Faced with a rematch from Euro 2016 against Slovakia, there was every opportunity for Allardyce and England to make a statement.
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To his surprise, Bohunicky found the England playing shirt of Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling and captain’s armband of Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney.
But there was just enough left in the tank for England to snatch a late win and move on from their Euro 2016 humiliation at the hands of Iceland as Lallana, who had earlier hit the post before a Theo Walcott strike was ruled out for offside, struck his first global goal.
Manager Sam Allardyce was questioned about this after the game, but the former Sunderland manager said he was in no position to question a player of Rooney’s caliber and experience. “He needs to start adding goals to his game and I want to see more from him going forwards”.
When asked about the letter by during the pre-match conference, Allardyce, 61, said he “might be able to oblige”. It doesn’t matter who I am playing.
“I’m captain of the team and I feel I can do a very good job in the role I played tonight”, Rooney told Sky Sports.
“Yes he played a bit deeper than he does at United, but Wayne’s comfortable, when I talk to him, about the position”.
Rooney has moved one ahead of David Beckham, who played 115 games for the Three Lions, but the striker is still behind Peter Shilton, who won 125 caps for England.
Allardyce meant he trusted Rooney to read the game and play where the team needed him to and insisted he would be standing by his man.
But Rooney said: “I played in that role and helped us win the game”.
“I must admit, he did play a little deeper than I thought he’d play today, but I was pleased with his performance”.
Slovakia defender Jan Durica has suggested that his team’s defeat to England was fixed because of Martin Skrtel’s sending-off.
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“It was a good battle up there and we created some good chances, I had some half-chances that on another day could have sneaked in but overall I was happy with the way things went”. It’s got us a last-minute victor.
