Adam Lallana scored with the last kick of the match as England edged 10-man Slovakia 1-0 in Sam Allardyce\u2019s first game as manager in World Cup qualifying on Sunday.<\/p>\n
But in the fifth minute of stoppage time in Trnava, Liverpool midfielder Lallana squeezed a shot between Slovakia goalkeeper Matus Kozacik\u2019s legs to get England up and running in Group F.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty nerve-racking at the end because the 10 men scenario meant we must win,\u201d Allardyce told ITV.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got what we deserved in the end and won in the last minute. We have dominated the game and got a very important win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allardyce, nicknamed \u2018Big Sam\u2019, succeeded Roy Hodgson after England\u2019s humiliating Euro 2016 elimination by Iceland.<\/p>\n
Kozacik\u2019s gaffe enabled him to become the ninth England manager to start his tenure with a win.<\/p>\n
Lallana\u2019s goal, on a clammy night at City Arena, spared England from a repeat of the result from their group-stage encounter with Slovakia at Euro 2016.<\/p>\n
It also meant that captain Wayne Rooney finished as a winner on a night when he won his 116th cap to become England\u2019s most-capped outfield player.<\/p>\n
Allardyce had vowed that Rooney would no longer play as a number 10 on his watch, but the captain nonetheless lined up in midfield beside Jordan Henderson in a 4-1-4-1 system.<\/p>\n
With Raheem Sterling hugging the touchline on the right and Lallana flitting infield from the left, it left lone striker Harry Kane isolated.<\/p>\n
It took England until mid-way through the first half to present Kane with anything approaching a shooting chance and when Kyle Walker picked him out at the near post, the number nine missed his kick.<\/p>\n
Slovakia gave England a scare when Michal Duris robbed Danny Rose and flashed the ball across the six-yard box, narrowly eluding Dusan Svento.<\/p>\n
The first half ended with Sterling drilling a shot wide, but England were toiling.<\/p>\n
Allardyce shuffled his pack at half-time, switching Sterling and Lallana and pushing Rooney upfield, but it took the dismissal of Skrtel for the visitors to take the upper hand.<\/p>\n
Booked in the first half for catching Kane with a flailing arm, the former Liverpool centre-back saw red after crudely stamping on the same opponent\u2019s calf as he knelt on the pitch.<\/p>\n
Rooney registered England\u2019s first shot on target in the 65th minute, a weak curler that Kozacik pushed away uncertainly, before Sterling almost caught the Slovakia goalkeeper out with an improvised chip.<\/p>\n
Allardyce sent on Dele Alli and Theo Walcott for Henderson and Sterling, while Daniel Sturridge replaced Kane late on.<\/p>\n
It looked as if the visitors would come no closer than a left-foot snapshot from Lallana that hit the left-hand post and bounced across goal.<\/p>\n
The former Southampton captain continued to look like England\u2019s best chance of a goal, with one shot parried by Kozacik and another fizzing wide.<\/p>\n
Walcott found the net in the 90th minute, tucking the ball away after Sturridge\u2019s shot was blocked, only for his celebrations to be cut short by an offside flag.<\/p>\n
But just as victory appeared destined to elude England, Lallana gathered Rose\u2019s cross and unleashed a hopeful shot that crept between Kozacik\u2019s legs and dribbed into the net at the near post.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, Martin Skrtel got sent off and then it was only about our heroic defending with the support of our fantastic fans,\u201d said Slovakia coach Jan Kozak.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is football. You concede a goal in the 95th minute. We almost held as great a team as England to two successive draws.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Adam Lallana scored with the last kick of the match as England edged 10-man Slovakia 1-0 in Sam Allardyce’s first game as manager in World Cup qualifying on Sunday. Despite Slovakia having Martin Skrtel sent off in the 57th minute, Allardyce looked set to become the first England manager since Bobby Robson in 1982 not to win his first game in charge. But in the fifth minute of stoppage time in Trnava, Liverpool midfielder Lallana squeezed a shot between Slovakia goalkeeper Matus Kozacik’s legs to get England up and running<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2378"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2378"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2380,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2378\/revisions\/2380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}