Watkins claims England winner 'has been a long time coming'

Ollie Watkins claims scoring England's winning goal against Australia "has been a long time coming".

The forward has not been selected for the Three Lions since March 2022 but made up for lost time by notching the only goal of their 1-0 victory at Wembley.

And the Villa striker believes he has proved why he should be a mainstay in Gareth Southgate's squad.

He said: "I have been waiting a long time for the next call-up.

"I was looking forward to it and I wasn't going to let this opportunity slip.

"I knew I wasn't going to come off this pitch without the goal, that was in my mind."

The race to be selected as Harry Kane's understudy for Euro 2024 is a tight one, with Eddie Nketiah named in this squad, Callum Wilson regularly picked and Ivan Toney returning to contention in January.

Watkins' performances so far this season have forced him front and centre of the debate, however, after he bagged hat-tricks against Hibernian and Brighton in the opening weeks of the campaign.

The 27-year-old has now scored three goals in eight England caps, a favourable record compared to those competitors.

He said: "There's so many good forwards around scoring goals and it is about taking your opportunity when you are on the pitch.

"I think Jack [Grealish] has gone to shoot and he's dragged it, I don't know if it's going in. My first thought was it was but I've taken it off him. 

"I was not nervous and just tried to perform in front of all these fans. I scored, it was a good night."