Mark Sampson’s bold ambitions of European domination were reduced to tatters as, inspired by Danielle van de Donk’s outstanding midfield performance, Holland left his Lionesses uncharacteristically cowed and thoroughly chastened.

Well before the final whistle, the England coach’s tight white shirt had been torn, perhaps emblematically, during a particularly vexing technical area moment. As Sampson stewed over some controversial refereeing decisions, the Oranje ended an evening on which their nation finally seemed to have fallen in love with women’s football, having deservedly earned a place in Sunday’s final against Denmark.

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It left Sampson talking of his “disappointment,” of the “devastation in the dressing room” and “tears among the staff”. For all his annoyance about specific incidents, the young Welshman was in impressively magnanimous mode.

“We always knew it was going to be difficult,” he said. “Congratulations to Holland they deserve their place in the final. I wish them all the best. Their supporters made it a wonderful night for women’s football.”

Even so the hosts’ triumph was surely facilitated partly by the loss of England’s Jill Scott to suspension. The former junior cross-country champions covers a lot of miles, invariably box to box, and, as feared, her athletic dynamism proved much missed.

Scott’s place went to the veteran Fara Williams who adopted the deepest sitting holding role alongside Jade Moore in a 4-2-3-1 formation seemingly designed to frustrate Holland before aiming to overwhelm Sarina Wiegman’s side on the counterattack. Unfortunately Sampson’s midfield struggled to cope with the excellent Van de Donk, who eclipsed her Arsenal team-mate Williams.

Beforehand Wiegman had labelled England a long-ball team and, for lengthy stretches, they looked two-dimensional at best as they strove to contain a front three featuring Lieke Martens, Barcelona’s new £180,000-a-year left winger. As the message emblazoned on one Dutch banner, put it: “Who needs Neymar when you’ve got Martens.”

She was up against a formidable opponent in Lucy Bronze and initially found getting behind England’s right-back tricky. With Wiegman’s defence holding similarly firm, Sampson’s leading striker, Jodie Taylor lacked early chances to challenge her Arsenal team-mate and good friend, Holland’s goalkeeper Sari van Veenendaal.

It was turning into a cagey, physical game but then England suffered a concentration lapse. With Demi Stokes minding Holland’s menacing right winger, Shanice van der Sanden, Ellen White failed to close down Jackie Groenen, who used the resultant space to swing in a cross towards Vivianne Miedema at the far post.

Miedema, newly signed by Arsenal from Bayern Munich, had no hesitation in heading beyond the England goalkeeper Siobhan Chamberlain. The ball’s unerring trajectory left Millie Bright, hoping to clear off the line, merely helping usher it on its journey to the bottom corner. It was only the second goal the Lionesses had conceded during Euro 2017 and the first time they had fallen behind.

Already a sea of orange, FC Twente’s home had turned into a wall of sound as many of the 27,000-plus crowd celebrated. A test of England’s much vaunted mental resilience beckoned and they appeared to rally. From a corner Moore unleashed a header which looked to be going wide until Sherida Spitse hacked it onto a post from where, to wholesale Dutch relief, it rebounded to safety.

England then demanded a penalty – with some justification – when Desiree van Lunteren appeared to elbow White as they competed for Bronze’s cross but Stéphanie Frappart, the French referee, was not buying it and Sampson ripped his shirt. “There was contact,” he said. “We didn’t get the decisions but I’m incredibly proud of my players.”

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Earlier Frappart had appeared to bow to crowd pressure in booking Bright for a rather innocuous shove on Van Veenendaal but did show Van Luteren a yellow card for an extremely late tackle on White. Perhaps surprisingly Sampson did not make any substitutions at the interval, thereby resisting the temptation to relocate the influential Jordan Nobbs from wide on the right to a more central midfield role.

It left England still struggling to retain possession and Chamberlain doing well to palm the impressive Van der Sanden’s subtly curving shot to safety. Although the floodlights continued to work, there was a power cut in the stands and, as Moore was booked for a slightly desperate tackle on Van de Donk, it was impossible not to wonder whether the lights had gone out on the Lionesses’ dream.

Before the restart Williams had made a point of speaking to every team-mate, offering words of encouragement. Consequently it seemed rather unfortunate when her badly miscued header fell into Van de Donk’s path. She proceeded to float a chip over Chamberlain and secure Holland a two-goal lead.

Taylor subsequently saw an excellent shooting chance foiled by her great pal Van Veenendaal and Toni Duggan, on for Williams, had a shot cleared off the line by Spitse. Ultimately though Bright’s last-gasp own goal – she deflected Martens’ shot home – emphasised it was very much Holland’s night.