Skipper’s pride in a Hart stopper
NEW England captain Harry Kane beamed with pride last night after keeping the Three Lions on the road to the World Cup in Russia.
Kane, who celebrated wearing the skipper’s armband for the first time with a dramatic late equaliser, said: “It’s a proud day and one I will never forget. I would have been gutted to have lost.
“But we didn’t and I got the goal. I have seen the keeper going backwards and thought ‘Get a good contact on it’.
“We’re relatively happy with the draw. It was a crazy end to the game to go behind 2-1 out of the blue. We controlled the game and then all of a sudden in stoppage time we’re 2-1 down.
“There wasn’t a lot of time at all and we’re just happy to put it away.
“We wanted to win but it’s not an easy place to come. To get something is a good day.”
Keeper Joe Hart was not happy conceding two late goals but there was no pointing fingers at either himself or his wall.
He said: “We’re never going to blame each other. I wanted to save the free-kicks and the wall wanted to block them.
“But we didn’t but we didn’t drop our heads.
“We have seen Leigh Griffiths’ quality and were very aware of him. To score two in five minutes when you have never had a sniff of a goal is a great moment for him.
“It was like a derby match. We should have seen the game out when we were one up with three minutes to go.
“But to be fair those free-kicks were brilliant and then Harry has got that vital goal for us.”
Pundit Gary Neville said: “I have not been in an atmosphere like that for a long time. I think, though, that Gareth Southgate will be quietly delighted.
“It’s tough coming up here to Scotland and he will be delighted with the point.”
Scotland legend Graeme Souness said: “I feel as though we have lost.
“We were just two minutes away from beating England in a game which means so much for us.”