After scoring a late victor in England’s 1-0 victory over Slovakia on Sunday evening, Adam Lallana described it as a “dream” goal.
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England’s Adam Lallana scored his first worldwide goal with the last kick of the game as the visitors beat 10-man Slovakia 1-0 in their World Cup Group F qualifier Sunday to get new manager Sam Allardyce’s reign off to a winning start.
“In the end we got the goal and it’s a deserved win”.
England manager Sam Allardyce watches the action from the touchline during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifying match at the City Arena, Trnava. “Thankfully Adam got us the goal at the end to get us off to a great start”.
Lallana’s 95th-minute finish, scuffed through the goalkeeper Matus Kozacik’s legs, was his first goal in his 27th game and broke Slovakia’s resistance after they had lost their captain, Martin Skrtel, to a red card before the hour mark.
“I thought it should have been a second goal (after Walcott’s) but the referee had a hard job, and we finished the job in the end”.
Gareth Southgate admits he was not ready to replace Roy Hodgson following Euro 2016, though the England Under-21 manager is open to taking charge of the senior team in the future.
For all their possession, particularly against 10 men when home captain Martin Skrtel was sent off for a stamp on Harry Kane, they lacked the wherewithal to make their dominance pay in a lacklustre Group F encounter in Trnava. “And he linked well with Dele Alli when he came on”, added Shearer.
Eric Dier, meanwhile, was pleased to start life under Allardyce with a win but said there was still plenty of work to do to heal the scars of a summer of hurt at the European Championship.
“If you want to be successful, you need to leave everything on the pitch”, he said. He also hit a post earlier and was our most positive and creative player.
“We, as a team, have the character and the enthusiasm”.
He said after the match: “It’s been a long time coming”.
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“We were very patient, we limited them to very few chances, we created some good chances but maybe the final ball again, whether it was a cross or a through ball, could have been a little bit better”.
