Rashford delivers after the referee’s let-off for Walker

friends as well as points for England these days.

That latter process could not have begun more catastrophically as Rashford first lost possession and then lost his man.

Stanislav Lobotka picked his pocket on the edge of the area and then ran on to Adam Nemec’s instant pass to poke the ball far too easily under the arm of Joe Hart.

Already England were looking to Harry Kane to lead them out of trouble. His first chance arrived after 15 minutes but the best the Tottenham talisman could do was fire a deflected shot wide.

Then, from the corner, nobody in an England shirt seemed capable of getting the ball goalwards despite an encouraging panic in the Slovakia defence.

Rashford pulled the ball back for Dele Alli to fire in an unconvincing shot as captain Jordan Henderson urged his players back into the game.

But it was time for some level heads not proud hearts. Alex OxladeChamberlain tried a ludicrously audacious lob from 25 yards when England had a counter and the sight of it flying over the bar set the glum-faced Southgate on a seething prowl from his seat to the edge of the technical area. Furious, he scribbled on his notepad.

He may not be an inspirational leader but nobody can say the slightly preppy former player is not one to do his homework.

To Southgate’s credit, England’s equaliser appeared to have been crafted in the short time he