Hodgson, 68, also admitted it was probably the best double substitution of his long career, with Vardy cancelling out Gareth Bale’s 42nd minute opener, a free kick that beat Joe Hart from 35 yards, before Sturridge’s late, late victor.
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Having sent on Vardy and Sturridge at half-time, Hodgson made another attacking change in the second half when he introduced Marcus Rashford, leaving England with four of their five named strikers on the pitch.
England, who drew their opening game against Russian Federation after a stoppage time equaliser denied them a win, faced a confident Wales side who had beaten Slovakia 2-1 in their first match of the tournament.
“If I had been watching from afar and not been with England and watching Wales play some other opponent I would have felt very sorry for them”, said Hodgson.
“England did it. They conceded in the last minute against Russian Federation and showed good courage to get back in the second game – and we have to do the same”.
England Boss Roy Hodgson’s halftime substitutions change the course of the game.
Wales coach Chris Coleman, happy with a point after earning a late victory in the first match, removed striker Hal Robson-Kanu, whose goal had beaten Slovakia and who had done his job here in holding the ball up when given a chance to get on it.
UEFA has already told the Russian football authorities their team could be kicked out of the tournament if there is a repeat of the trouble that surrounded the England match.
England were denied victory by an added-time goal for Russian Federation in their opening Euro 2016 fixture – and Hodgson had little sympathy for opposing boss Chris Coleman who described it as the lowest moment of his career.
“If you are from Wales, you always looked at this game because it is England, but for me it is the middle game of three”.
Gareth Bale scored his second goal of the tournament to put his Welsh team ahead with a stunning free-kick. “He gave us everything, absolutely”.
“To come off the bench, you want to make an impact and I think I have today”.
“We thought a lot about what the starting 11 should be but I didn’t want to start breaking eggs with a big stick”, Hodgson said. “It’s in our hands and we’ve got to take the chance”. We can’t dwell on this result, we need to stay strong and stay together.
Even then, with all this potency arrayed against Wales, England laboured to find a second goal.
“I thought we were doing OK, but I thought there were other aspects of our game which we could bring to the game”, he said.
Daniel Sturridge played a nice one-two for the victor.
Perhaps with an eye on forcing a draw, Wales manager Chris Coleman made a decision to further strengthen the defence by replacing striker Chris Coleman with Jonathan Williams. “We have to put it to bed and get ready for Russian Federation”.
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“It is tough for everybody obviously but we have another game on Monday and it is a quick turnaround so we won’t get down about it”.
