Wales' Rob Earnshaw 'devastated' after Wembley miss
Last updated on .From the section Football
Wales striker Rob Earnshaw said he was "devastated" after missing an open goal in the 1-0 defeat by England in a Euro 2012 qualifier at Wembley Stadium.
"I know I should have scored, my team-mates know I should have scored," said Earnshaw, whose left-foot effort flew over the bar from five yards.
"I should have equalised and everybody knows I will be disappointed.
"I'm not one of those to hide. I should have scored, simple as that. For me personally, I'm devastated."
Earnshaw replaced lone striker Steve Morison with 20 minutes left at Wembley as Wales increased the pressure on the home side.
He only needed to apply the finishing touch to Darcy Blake's knockdown but somehow the Cardiff City striker managed to blaze his finish over England's unguarded goal.
"I'm annoyed, but as the manager and everyone has been saying it's nothing to worry about," he said.
"The bigger picture is it's brilliant for me to have chances at Wembley and brilliant to be in those positions.
"The bigger picture is we've taken five or six steps forward. The team has really progressed and we can be really proud of that. We've got another year to get better.
"For us to narrowly lose to England - and in the second half I think we edged it - is a big thing."
Despite his miss and the defeat, Earnshaw believes Wales have taken huge strides under manager Gary Speed.
They had secured their first win of the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign with a 2-1 win over Montenegro before facing Fabio Capello's side.
"Two or three years ago we would have come here and probably lost two, three or four nil," added Earnshaw.
"We faced Wayne Rooney at his very, very best right now. He's absolutely on fire. Ashley Young has got all the confidence in the world. [Stewart] Dowing I thought was brilliant.
"So against all these top players we were never out of the game and we kept ourselves in the game.
"But that's the progression. We narrowly lost 1-0 and we probably should have drawn. There are a lot of positives from us we can take."
