England are on the verge of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Moscow after recovering from an early setback to beat Slovakia 2-1 at Wembley last night.
Marcus Rashford – instrumental in allowing Stanislav Lobotka to steal in and place the ball past Joe Hart into the England net after less than three minutes – then regained his composure and scored the crucial winner just before the hour mark.
Eric Dier, recently returned from suspension and put back into the side by Gareth Southgate, placed a side-footed finish into the roof of the net on 38 minutes past Martin Dubravka to level the scores – assisted by Rashford.
The young Manchester United forward then collected the ball on the edge of the area fifteen minutes after the break and fired an effort into the bottom-left hand corner to give England the lead – and the three points.
It means Southgate’s side need just two points from their final two matches against Slovenia and Lithuania to secure their place at the finals.
Scotland’s 2-0 victory over Malta ensures they moved closer to securing second spot in England’s group, and a play-off position to seal their own place in Moscow.
England return to action at Wembley against Slovenia on Thursday 5th October.
![Credit: National league editor [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.](https://www.wessexscene.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Eastleigh_F.C-252x167.png "Eastleigh FC And The State of Hampshire Non-League Football")
