FRAIZER Campbell enjoyed a remarkable evening in more ways than one last night as his senior England debut coincided with the birth of his first child.

Campbell won his first England cap at Wembley as Arjen Robben's stoppage-time winner condemned Stuart Pearce's side to a 3-2 defeat to Holland.

However, at the opposite end of the country, Campbell's partner, Emma, was giving birth to his daughter, Isla Rose, at almost the exact time he was coming off the bench to replace Danny Welbeck.

The Sunderland striker almost left the England squad when he discovered his partner was going into labour, but opted to remain and represent his country.

His dedication was rewarded with a first cap, and he raced from Wembley at the final whistle to catch a plane to enable him to spend the rest of the night with his daughter.

Campbell tweeted: “Delighted to earn my first international cap and the very same moment I became a dad to Isla Rose Campbell. #cloud9”

Last night's events cap a wonderful two months for the 24-year-old, who has overcome two cruciate ligament injuries to return to first-team action and establish himself as both a key member of the Black Cats squad and a fully-fledged international.

He was unable to alter the outcome of last night's game, with England cancelling out a two-goal deficit through goals from Gary Cahill and Ashley Young, only to concede a deflected winner to Robben in the second minute of stoppage time.

The defeat was hardly the ideal way for Pearce to begin his career in international management, and it remains to be seen whether the former full-back is still in charge for England's two remaining Euro 2012 warm-up games against Norway and Belgium.

The Football Association are expected to discuss a more permanent replacement for Fabio Capello in the next couple of weeks, but despite last night's setback, Pearce has confirmed his desire to lead England into this summer's tournament in Poland and Ukraine.

“I have put myself forward and I feel as though I would be confident taking the squad to the Euros.” said Pearce. “Because of the experience I've got, that wouldn't be a daunting prospect at all.

“Beyond that, I don't think I have the experience for this job. I've enjoyed this week and would enjoy the summer, but all I am really doing is buying the FA time if they have not got someone in place. The full-time manager of England at this time is someone else. It's not me.”

Nevertheless, Pearce has displayed commendable boldness this week, first selecting a squad that included a number of young players, then making Scott Parker captain instead of Steven Gerrard or Joe Hart, and finally handing a debut to Campbell, a second appearance to Daniel Sturridge and a maiden start to Danny Welbeck.

Pearce feels England's youngsters will have gained valuable experience last night, but admits they will need to display greater belief if they are to succeed in the cut and thrust of a major tournament.

“They maybe needed to have a bit more belief that they could hurt a team of (Holland's) ability,” he said. “That's probably the missing ingredient that we have to find.

“It's disappointing, but we came up against an outstanding side who had their full team out. I am sure our young players will have benefited from playing against them.”

As well as suffering their first defeat since November 2010, England were also forced to contend with the loss of three key players to injury.

Steven Gerrard hobbled off before the interval, Chris Smalling was stretchered from the field after a sickening clash of heads with Klass-Jan Huntelaar, and Sturridge failed to finish the game after injuring his toe.

“Steven was more of a precaution,” said Pearce. “He was feeling a little bit tight and my plan was to only play him for 45 minutes anyway.

“Chris took a really bad bang and split his head open. He's gone to hospital, but I spoke to him when he came off the field and he was conscious. Daniel took a bang on his toe and as Theo (Walcott) was ready to come on anyway, we thought it best to take him off.”