Match Summary

England Team

Slovakia Team

After a somewhat laboured display in Malta, England arrived at Wembley determined to win over their sceptical fans with a positive performance against their nearest rivals in their World Cup group, Slovakia.  What everyone needed was an early goal to settle the nerves, and we got one, although unfortunately, it wasn't scored by England.

With only two and a half minutes of the game gone, Phil Jones headed clear a cross from the right and Marcus Rashford attempted to dribble the ball away to try and make a break.  The youngster was caught in possession though, and  a lovely chipped pass from Adam Nemec found Stanislav Labotka clear of the defence to shoot past the advancing Joe Hart.  It was not at all what the crowd, or the team, wanted but it was a well-taken goal and it highlighted Slovakia's bright and positive start.  The visitors tactics surprised England as they continued to play on the front foot.  They certainly weren't going to sit back and defend for ninety minutes.  England had a lot of work to do and they gradually knuckled down to their task.

Rashford attempted to redeem his mistake with a good run and shot, saved by Martin Dubravka, but for a spell it was the Slovakia team that held possession well with some good crisp passing.  England were struggling to come to terms with conceding that early goal.  Finally, on 15 minutes, Harry Kane forced a corner, and there was a fierce scramble as Slovakia struggled to clear the danger.  Two minutes later a better England move down the right saw Rashford tee up Dele Alli, but the final shot was deflected wide for another fruitless corner.

Gradually England clawed their way back into the game and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain made a promising break on 20 minutes.  However, the crowd groaned as his final shot went way over the top.  Shortly after that miss, Alli's header from Kyle Walker's deep cross was easily gathered by Dubravka.  All the time, the Slovakian midfield, strong throughout, set England's defenders a number of tasks, and the visitors were always dangerous, but without threatening Hart.

England continued to search for a way back and on 25 minutes a good ball into the middle by Jordan Henderson was again met by Alli's head, but again the header was weak.  Several corners were won over the next few minutes but as so often before nothing fruitful came of them.  England were improving as the game progressed but the final pass was never quite there for them, whilst at the back Hart was having a quiet game with the defence coping with the few Slovakian attacks.  Rashford had another attempt on 34 minutes but that went wide and a few more corners came and went.  Then on 37 minutes Kane might have gone down in the box when he was clipped by a defender, but instead settled for yet another corner.  This time, lo and behold, the corner brought a rich reward!

Rashford took the kick and played it low, towards the near post, at pace, Eric Dier stole a march on the dozing Slovakian defenders and flicked the ball towards goal.  Not only that but it flew into the top corner giving the keeper no chance and gave England a deserved equaliser.  England, at last, had made a corner kick pay off!

The goal certainly lifted the mood of the stadium, and the team came close to taking the lead before the break.  In the 42nd minute Ryan Bertrand latched on to a loose ball and shot hard from close range.  Dubravka fisted that one clear but a minute later the keeper produced the best save of the night when he tipped Rashford's fine shot around a post at full stretch.  There was still time for a bit of a let-off at the other end as Slovakia pushed forward again.  Gary Cahill lunged in to the back of Vladimir Weiss, but the forward rolled the challenge well and was clear on goal about forty yards out.  As he sped towards the box Walker came from nowhere, using his superb pace, to dislodge the ball away from Weiss's feet.  Replays suggested that Walker was a mite lucky to get away with the challenge as it appeared he caught the legs of Weiss, although to be fair, Walker had made a legitimate challenge for the ball.  That incident signalled the end of an entertaining half, but England would look to improve after the break.

England, by and large, had finished the first half strongly and they continued with that pattern after the restart.  On 47 minutes a fine piece of inter-passing between Rashford and Alli saw the latter's shot blocked but then run free to Henderson.  Unfortunately the skipper scuffed his follow-up shot wide of the far post.  Five minutes later Rashford forced another good save from Dubravka after more excellent build up play, and then the keeper saved again from a fierce shot by Oxlade-Chamberlain, getting everything behind the ball as he dived to catch.

Just as you thought England would forge ahead, Slovakia came back with a near miss of their own.  In the 55th minute good interplay down the left ended with a weak cross by Robert Mak, but England failed to clear properly and the ball ran for Marik Hamsik to try another cross.  This time it was an excellent one and it cleared Jones before being chested down by Nemec.  The forward hit a point-blank shot at goal but Hart stood tall to make a very good save, pushing the ball away for a corner.  Martin Skirtel headed over from the kick and the danger was over.

Immediately, England were back on the attack.  Kane rode two challenges to fire in a cross-shot which Dubravka managed to push out, but Alli could not bring the ball under control and it went out for a goalkick.  On 58 minutes, with the game hotting up, Alli had another try, but this time shot hopelessly high, wide and not so handsome.  Seconds later though, England finally forced their noses ahead, and this time it was a fine goal.  Alli intercepted a pass inside, Gary Cahill passed it on to Henderson, who, in turn, found Rashford.  One touch made him some space, and the second saw him drill a super shot wide of the keeper and into the far corner.  No-one deserved the goal more than the Manchester United youngster as he showed great character to come back from his earlier error.  He certainly atoned for it with his goal.

On 65 minutes chances fell at both ends as the game opened up, with Alli seeing another effort saved and then Tomas Hubocan hit a shot into the ground and wide following a free-kick.  For a period of play after that England sat very deep allowing Slovakia to come on to them, which seemed a dangerous ploy, although to be fair the England players defended well and pressed the Slovakian players at every opportunity, thus denying them space.  Substitutes came on for Slovakia and then Dier committed one foul too many to gain a booking.  With ten minutes left, good covering from Jones averted a dangerous situation and the defender had had a very steady game.

Gareth Southgate brought on Raheem Sterling and Danny Welbeck for Oxlade-Chamberlain and Rashford with eight minutes to go.  In those remaining minutes though Slovakia could not generate the necessary surge to try and force a late equaliser, and that was mainly down to England's good defending.  Jake Livermore came on for Alli in the closing seconds but he barely had a touch before the final whistle sounded.  Three vital points for England and they have all but booked their place in the finals next year, now having a five point gap from Slovakia in second spot.
   

TheFA.com BBC Sport futbalsfz.sk

UEFA.com Mike Payne - football historian and contributor