England will keep taking the knee after more boos
Gareth Southgate expected his England players to be jeered for taking the knee ahead of their win over Romania but again insisted they will continue to make the gesture going forward.
The England boss had asked for supporters not to boo the stance on the eve of this final Euro 2020 warmup game at the Riverside Stadium but, as they did here on Wednesdaynight,aminority ignored Southgate's pleas.
An experimental and inexperienced England earned a 1-0 victory over Romania through captain Marcus Rashford's second-half penalty but it was the prematch reaction which again lingered over the contest.
Jordan Henderson's return to action as a second-half substitute was marred by a penalty miss of his own, while Dominic Calvertlewin and Jadon Sancho both hit the crossbar.
Southgate and his players agreed on the decision to continue to take the knee as a gesture against racism and inequality despite the recent incidents, and he explained
after the win that the stance will not change.
"I think I sadly sort of expected what happened to happen," he said. "We've accepted that, as a group. It isn't going to stop what we are doing and what we believe. It certainly isn't going to stop my support for our players and our staff.
That's it, we are going to have to live with that. We've said what we’re going to say now."
Rashford, who captained England for the first time, echoed his manager's sentiments, telling ITV: "It is something we cannot control. For us it is the right thing to do so we are going to continue to do it."