England manager Sarina Wiegman said England showed they can "compete with best" after defeating Spain 1-0 in the second Nations League game on Wednesday at Wembley Stadium.
Jess Park scored the only goal of the evening as the Lionesses, who were defeated by Spain in the World Cup final in 2023, proved they can still battle with the top teams in Europe after a string of lacklustre performances and results.
"I'm really happy with the win. It was an absolute team performance and we fought for every yard," she told a news conference after the game.
"A very intense game and we had some very good moments in the game. We also know we have to defend really well to keep the ball out of the net. We had a couple of opportunities but overall we're very happy with how the team stood up and how hard we worked to get the win over the line."
"Of course it gives us a boost. We showed again tonight that we can compete with the best. We have shown that before and it was really good to show that again, maybe for ourselves, the fans who were in the stadium," she added.
England squandered their lead against Portugal to draw 1-1 in the first Nations League game last week but showed a vastly improved performance against Spain.
"I think the fight and the togetherness is the most important thing and it always starts with that. It helps to improve your game. Of course it gives a boost when you win then. At the same time you want to see improvements and that is what I saw today, " Wiegman said.
She praised Park's "agile" performance as the midfielder ensured England did not slip further in the group. The Dutch manager said Park was given the freedom to come inside and hopes that she will take confidence from her performance.
England were also boosted by Lauren James, who had a standout performance after struggling in Friday's game. The Chelsea forward showed improvement in defence while acting as the central figure in attack.
The hosts came into Wednesday's game with just two wins in their last six games. They lost 4-3 to Germany at Wembley before being held to a scoreless draw against the United States in two friendlies at the end of last year.
"That game against Germany we tried out things too and didn't get it right but that is why I was happy with the friendlies because you learn from them. You have to do better to be able to perform at the highest level. We took those learnings into the next game and the team is improving in that way," Wiegman said.
"I think we just wanted to do a lot better than Friday. We had momentum then lost it [on Friday] so it was tight. We wanted to prove to ourselves we could do better and we had to step up and do better against Spain.