Jill Roord steals in at the death to snatch victory for Holland over resilient New Zealand 

Holland snatched a late win in Le Havre on Tuesday afternoon when a single stoppage-time goal finally overcame a hard-working New Zealand side. 

New Zealand, who are yet to win a World Cup match in five appearances at the tournament, were unlucky as they remained competitive against the European Champions throughout. In a game that could have finished as a goal-fest, it instead took 92 minutes for the solitary goal to come, as Holland's attacking perseverance paid off thanks to substitute Jill Roord's header. 

"It was a long time, it was a relief that I scored the goal in such an important moment," Roord, 22, said afterwards, referring to her 872-day goal-drought for Holland.

"We had a lot of chances and we should have scored long before my goal but we did play badly. I know we can do much better, I'm sure we will next game."

Despite Roord's harsh assessment, Holland's performance was far from poor, they just struggled in their finishing. The Dutch attacking triple-threat is one the top teams should fear; Arsenal's Vivianne Miedema was relentless, Lyon's Shanice van de Sanden had explosive pace and Lieke Martens' expert touch and vision earned her the player of the match award.

They were relentless in their hunt for a goal but the majorly-Dutch crowd almost saw none, as chances were squandered and New Zealand's Erin Nayler pulled off a strong goalkeeping performance. 

Miedema was especially goal-hungry and could have had a hat trick but she could not find the quality in front of goal that helped her net 22 for Arsenal as the WSL's top-scorer last season. She sent a handful of headers looping over the bar and knocked an easy tap-in volley right into Nayler's path to end her hopes of breaking the deadlock.

It was a similarly frustrating story for her team-mates. In the final move of the first half Miedema skipped and hopped past two defenders and crossed back to Dominique Bloodworth but her work went to waste because her Arsenal team-mate scuffed a volley wide. 

Through all Holland's chances, they still had to hold off dangerous counter-attacking play from New Zealand. Olivia Chance hit the bar in the 11th minute to give the Dutch an early scare, and Rosie White and Sarah Gregorius joined up well throughout. 

Gregorius will no doubt rue a double opportunity in particular. First, she was late to a cross which would have set up a tap-in, and then, when gifted a second chance moments later, she mishit a half-volley in front of goal. Despite her poor touch it still would have found its way into the net if not for Sari van Veenendaal's high-quality diving save. 

Roord, a 76th-minute substitute, ultimately made the difference and victory puts Holland on par with Canada in Group E. Despite their European title Holland are not being counted among the favourites in this competition and Miedema said it suited them just fine.

"I like being outsiders. Other teams have been performing at the World Cup many times and it’s only our second. We’ve won the Euros but there is no pressure for us to win anything [here] so it’s quite good for us.

"We have not set ourselves a target, our only goal is take it to the Olympics Games."

Match details

New Zealand Nayler (Bordeaux); Bott (Vittsjo GIK), Stott (Avaldsnes IL), Riley (Chelsea), Erceg (NC Courage); Percival (West Ham), Bowen (Utah Royals), White (no club) [Wilkinson (no club) 73]; Chance (Everton) Gregorius (Miramar Rangers) [Satchell (Three Kings) 73] , Hassett (KR Reykjavik) [Longo (no club) 67].
Substitutes  Green (Miramar Rangers), Stratford (Glenfield Rovers), Kete (no club), Morton (Western Springs), Duncan (Onehunga Sport), Skilton (Papakura City), Cleverley (UC Berkeley), Esson (Avaldsness IL), Olla (Western Springs).

Netherlands Van Veenendaal (Arsenal); Van Lunteren (SC Freiburg), Van der Gragt (Barcelona), Bloodworth (Arsenal), Van Es (Ajax) [Van Dongen (Real Betis) 71] ; Groenen (Frankfurt) [Roord (Bayern Munich) 76], Van de Donk (Arsenal), Spitse (Valerenga IF); Van de Sanden (Lyon)[Beerensteyn (Bayern Munich) 87], Miedema (Arsenal), Martens (Barcelona).
Substitutes Pelova (ADO Den Haag), Jansen (FC Twente), Kaagman (Everton), Kop (Ajax), Jansen (Ajax), Kerkdijk (Bristol City), Van Der Most (Ajax), Geurts (Kopparbergs/Goteborg FC), Dekker (Montpellier).

Referee Edina Alves Batista (Brazil) Attendance 10,654