Martin Keown has admitted that four years of personal frustration evaporated as he helped England overcome Germany in a meaningful match for the first time since the 1966 World Cup final.

The Arsenal defender suffered the agony of watching England's Euro 96 penalty shoot out defeat by Germany in his own living room after being excluded from the squad by Terry Venables.

Then the 33-year-old failed to get on to the pitch during the 1998 World Cup finals as Glenn Hoddle confined him to four non-playing substitute appearances.

Keown also wondered if he was going to endure the same fate when left out of the side to face Portugal in England's opening Euro 2000 clash in Eindhoven last week.

But on Saturday Keown put all that disappointment behind him as he started a tournament match for the first time since Euro 92 and was man-of-the-match in England's 1-0 win over the old enemy.

The former Aston Villa and Everton player delivered a 'they shall not pass' message to the Germans and admitted that the bigger the occasion, the more he rises to the challenge.

Keown said: ''I hadn't had the chance to play against the Germans before and as soon as we went a goal up I thought 'this is great, this is just the position I want to be in'.

''Like loads of people I had sat and watched in frustration at losing the penalty shoot-outs to the Germans in the past.

''I felt that in 1996 I shouldn't have been at home watching that and kicking my heels. I felt that I should have been involved in some way.

''When Gareth Southgate missed, like a lot of people I didn't know what to do. I just felt so strongly that England were going to win that competition. I thought it was our year.

''I didn't get on in the 1998 World Cup and when I was left out of the first match of this tournament maybe I was thinking 'here we go again'.

''I took it on the chin and wanted to prove that I should be in there but the manager told me that I would have a big part to play in the competition.

''When he told me that I believed him and I do think he has got a lot more belief in me. I've always found Kevin Keegan first-class whether he's picking me or not.

''But to finally get the opportunity in a major competition to play Germany something I've thought was going to pass me by was fantastic and to beat them was special.

Keown admitted: ''When something really big is on the game like Saturday then everyone the nation, the players, the critics feel the pressure and that's when I feel most comfortable.

''I have played in a lot of friendly internationals over the years and I have always played my best football when there is something at stake.

''I think I had already showed to people what I could do. I think I proved that in the away leg of the Euro play-off game with Scotland which got us through to these finals.

''On Saturday they kept putting the ball into our penalty area and you had to stand up and be counted.

''It was very important for the nation to win on Saturday. We all know what it means to the folks back home and to the fans out here who have been superb.

''We only get to hear about the bits of trouble but the fans really do give us that extra yard and it was like playing a home game on Saturday.

''It was a big team effort that got us through against the Germans. Perhaps we can still play better and there is still a long way to go. We will keep the lid on what happened on Saturday.

''It's nice to beat the Germans but now we've got to get a result against Romania on Tuesday if we are going to reach the quarter-finals.''

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