‘Ref tried to make me apologise to Shaw’

THE England players received an early indication of just how fired up their Scottish rivals were in the Euro 2020 match at Wembley on Friday night when Lyndon Dykes flattened Luke Shaw as they challenged for a diagonal Kieran Tierney ball just seconds after kick-off.

The foul very much set the tone for what was to come; Steve Clarke’s side dominated Gareth Southgate’s team for long spells of the 90 minutes and earned a point which kept their hopes of reaching the last 16 alive.

Dykes, the 6ft 2in striker, felt it was important to show the joint tournament favourites that they meant business from the start and stressed he will be determined to lay down an early marker in the final Group D match against Croatia at Hampden tomorrow evening.

However, the former Queen of the South and Livingston player revealed that Spanish referee Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz had cautioned him about being excessively physical before the game got underway and forced him to say sorry to Shaw after he had clattered the full-back.

Asked about the incident, the forward said: “No, it wasn’t deliberate, but obviously it was just from kick-off. It was up to me to try to win the ball and whoever comes through it as well. I’ve taken him out and it was a good start.

“He [Shaw] didn’t like it, but he didn’t say anything. I think I just caught him with my knee on his leg.

“The referee actually pulled me beforehand and tried to warn me for my headers and stuff. He pulled me up in the warm-up. He tried to get me to say sorry when I got him. It was a good start, it set the tone for everyone.”

Dykes knows that winning the high balls brings those around him into play and is keen to reproduce his England display against Croatia.

“It helps a little bit,” he said. “When you are playing quality players it helps just to switch it up. If I can make space for Che [Adams] and the boys in midfield it helps to stretch the play and make runs.”