● Late winner lifts new manager as England struggle to break down ten-man Slovakia

Ignoring the first 94 minutes of his reign, this was just the start Sam Allardyce wanted, England players flooding the box, getting a break and a goal. Spray that champagne.

A swarm of red shirts set off towards the travelling fans at the far corner in pursuit of Adam Lallana as if the World Cup were sitting in the stands awaiting their hands. Big Sam let off a volley of right handers that might have put Anthony Joshua away. What a moment. What a night. Except, for the most part, it was precisely the opposite. As new dawns go, this was right up there with the post-fergie era of David Moyes and Louis van Gaal at Manchester United, the Chelsea grind of Rafa Benitez, as appetising as day-old custard.

And this was meant to be fun, remember. The Big Sam laugh-a-minute spectacular. How depressingly predictable. It’s unfair to lay it all at Allardyce’s door, of course. After a generation of underwhelming nothingness, English football fans have grown used to flatlining on the international stage.

It is a wonder they can still be bothered to roll out those flags. From Rochdale to Norwich, Blackpool to Nottingham the love adorned the Stadion Antona Malatinskeho in twee Trnava. At places like