England show seeds of hope
same time, defensive jitters remained at the back.
A straightforward freekick from deep nearly picked out Quincy Promes in the area, Jordan Pickford was all at sea when an unmarked Bas Dost headed over from a corner five yards out and a few ill-conceived attempts to dribble out of trouble had England fans watching through their fingers before half-time.
At the start of the second half it was the Dutch fans’ turn to be nervous – indeed it was hard to see how Rashford failed to win a penalty in the 52nd minute when he was taken down both by keeper Zoet and defender Matthijs de Ligt as he darted in.
Spanish referee Jesus Gil Manzano somehow waved play on. England’s last goal was from the spot and that was 302 minutes before Lingard finally found the back of the net again with the simplest of low drives from the edge of the box after Rose’s cross deflected kindly out to him.
The visitors were worth their lead and while everybody claims the results are not important in these friendlies, after allowing France and Spain off the hook in recent games it was high time a Southgate side showed the tenacity to hold on to what they had got in one of these matches.
A sloppily conceded freekick was patted down by a nervy Pickford but generally England held their shape and, most vitally, those three central branches stood firm.