BLACKBURN Rovers lionheart Alan Shearer (pictured) blasted back at England's critics today.

Shearer struck twice as Terry Venables' heroes marched into the quarter finals of Euro 96 with a sensational 4-1 drubbing of Holland at Wembley last night.

And England's undisputed number one said: "It's certainly the best performance of an England side I've played in.

"It just goes to prove that the people who know nothing about football are the ones who said we couldn't play football.

"People are entitled to their opinion - but the boys believe in themselves and so does the manager. That is all that matters." Shearer is now Euro 96's leading scorer on four goals and England coach Venables saluted him: "It wasn't only his finishing - his team work and the way he worked was first class."

Now the Ewood Park golden boy has sights trained firmly on Spain - back at Wembley - on Saturday.

He added:: "Hopefully that is going to worry a few of the others and possibly the fear factor will come into it and work in our favour.

"I've never lost faith in my ability even though some people appeared to do so.

"But everyone deserves credit for this result. Don't forget that David Seaman in goal made another world-class save when we were only 1-0 up."

It was England's first win in 14 years against the Dutch - the team which knocked them out of the 1988 European Championship and the 1994 World Cup.

But it was heartbreak for Colin Hendry and Scotland who saw a quarter-final place cruelly snatched away after Patrick Kluivert's late strike at Wembley squeezed the Dutch through on goal difference.

Ally McCoist's goal gave Scotland a 1-0 win over Switzerland but an emotional Hendry said: "This is not very easy to take. Football is a great game but it can be very cruel.

"Saturday's game against England was a big one but this proved even bigger and its all very difficult to accept. England did their bit to help Scotland last night.

"But we deserved much, much better and to go out of the tournament by a single goal was an absolute travesty. We were all destroyed afterwards when we knew how close we had come to the quarter-finals.

"We were all conscious of the score from Wembley and when we heard Holland had scored I went up front in search of a goal. We must have had eight or nine really great chances to score during the game but it wasn't to be.

"All the Scottish media were saying that it was one of the bravest Scotland performances that they had ever seen.

"It was certainly a great disappointment for the Scotland fans who were absolutely unbelievable in their support towards the team. . It was just amazing to see and I just wish we could have made it for them. I just want to thank them."

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