WE’D waited for the moment England finally clicked at Euro 2020 – and how all those years of hurt just melted away when it happened.

We had all endured - not enjoyed - 75 minutes of tense and stomach-churning football before Raheem Sterling slotted in that opening goal.

Suddenly, we were all on Gareth Southgate’s supposedly conservative page, urging England to shut up shop and close the game out.

Harry Kane’s second with four minutes to go left us all looking around for something to feel nervous about. Such a very English feeling.

This was a win for the brave ones. Sterling and Bukayo Saka’s relentless positivity on the ball, Kalvin Phillips’ energy, Luke Shaw’s hugely improved second half performance, Jordan Pickford’s ice-cool demeanour. Most of all, Southgate’s decision to bring on Jack Grealish and add some creativity when it was so sorely needed.

There hasn’t been a moment like this since England beat Spain on penalties in 1996 and with the draw now so favourable all the way to the final, surely the biggest threat to ‘Football Coming Home TM’ is hubris?

Southgate does deserve credit for sticking with Sterling – by far England’s best player on the day – when many would have dropped him for the in-vogue Jadon Sancho or Marcus Rashford. The Manchester City front man has consistently got himself in the right areas and, once again, he was the man the Germans were looking to stop from minute one.

It is nice to see that the majority of the 43,000 inside Wembley have cottoned on to the well-meaning bended knee gesture before kick-off, with the smattering of boss drowned out completely in the end.

But how long will it take an English crowd before they realise that booing the opposition national anthem is completely and utterly counter-productive?

Much of my first half was spent wincing every time Guy Mowbray unnecessarily tempted fate.

“Nobody has scored from a direct free kick at this tournament,” he said, as Kai Havertz was lining one up in the first half.

“Why would you even say that?” replied an incredulous Jermaine Jenas.

England struggled to make their press count but did, at least, stem the flow of possession to Germany’s wing-backs which in the first 10 minutes looked a major concern.

Half chances came and went, as they so often do in games of such magnitude.

Harry Maguire had two headers that the World Cup 2018 Harry Maguire would surely have buried and Raheem Sterling – still the man who consistently attracted German defenders like iron filings on a magnet - brought a half-decent save out of Manuel Neuer.

Kane had just two touches in the opening 30 minutes but it was his two immediately before the half-time interval that left the England fans crying into their half time Bovril – proof, if any were needed that the England captain is suffering for confidence.

Jordan Pickford’s fine save from Havertz was near-enough the only thing to discuss for the first 25 minutes of the second half, and as a result, nerves around Wembley were jangling like wind chimes.

Then Southgate added an extra dimension, replacing the hard-working Saka with the more nuanced Grealish. Within a few minutes he had played a part in the first goal, laying off to Shaw to roll a cross along the six-yard box for Sterling to lash home.

Yes, Thomas Muller could have shattered the narrative by – ahem – slotting a shot into the corner of the net, as opposed to skimming a shot wide. But the truth is, England deserved that moment of good fortune and to make the game safe when Kane nodded in Grealish’s cross.

England must now avoid over-confidence and try to settle those butterflies that were so clearly evident early on. If they can do that, maybe Skinner, Baddiel and the Lightning Seeds will have to change the lyrics?