England Women boss Sarina Wiegman defended goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck after the mistake that denied the Lionesses a winning end to an otherwise magnificent calendar year.
Roebuck's error allowed Norway back into the game after England had taken the lead in the first half through Rachel Daly in their friendly in Spain.
Despite Anja Sonstevold being sent off for a second booking, Norway equalised when Roebuck made a misjudgement as she came out of the box and failed to clear the ball, allowing Frida Maanum to slot in the equaliser as Tuesday’s friendly ended 1-1.
Wiegman though played down Roebuck's error, emphasising that conceding is done by the team as a whole.
“It's frustrating, it's disappointing, and you know it's a personal mistake - but that happens sometimes too, and when it's a goalkeeper it's a goal and that's very unfortunate but it happens and as a team when you concede that's a team thing and as a team you just have to score another goal," the Lionesses boss said.
“That's what we tried to do but it didn't work, but overall there are so many things we can take from this game, that getting information from this - this is all to get prepared for the World Cup and this gives us so much information.
“We've seen so many players today and also Friday, and that's a good thing.”
England are currently on a 26-match unbeaten run and became the first national side to win a major trophy since 1966 when winning the European Championships over the summer.
Wiegman said she will toast the year over the festive period.
Frida Maanum just can't stop scoring, for club and country 🔥
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) November 15, 2022
It's not one that Ellie Roebuck is going to want to watch back...
📺 @ITV 4
📱https://t.co/lM59aP1BY0 pic.twitter.com/9xV2wrjnFT
“It has been very nice. Although I am a little bit disappointed with this tie but I think if you would say that this was all going to happen from last September to now, I'm not going to believe it," she added.
“We take a lot from this and the overall year... I think I will toast a little bit at Christmas time and think it over."
Daly, who played the majority of the Euros at full-back, was employed up front against Norway and headed in England's opener.
“I'm obviously delighted to be on the scoresheet. As a forward one of my main targets is to score but ultimately we didn't win the game so it's disappointing but we've ended the year with a 20-game unbeaten run,” she said.
“That's credit to absolutely everybody who's been involved over the past year. So bittersweet, (I) scored but we didn't get the win so that's a little bit disappointing."
