Raheem Sterling praised England for finding something deep within as his penalty snatched a late 1-0 Nations League win over Iceland.
Gareth Southgate s side laboured for long periods against the nation who famously humiliated the Three Lions at Euro 2016.
Kyle Walker s 70th-minute red card further complicated matters but Sverrir Ingason joined the Manchester City full-back in receiving his marching orders when he handled Sterling s shot in the final minute.
With Harry Kane having been replaced by debutant Mason Greenwood, the responsibility fell to Sterling, who stroked his spot-kick down the centre of the goal.
As soon as I got the ball I said straight down the middle , he told Sky Sports. It s the 90th minute, I knew the keeper wouldn t stand straight in the middle, so I was quite confident.
England then almost instantly threw away their hard-earned gains, with Joe Gomez clumsily impeding substitute Holmbert Fridjonsson in the box.
Birkir Bjarnason stepped up but blazed woefully off target, providing a somewhat fitting conclusion to what was often a slightly disorientating contest.
We knew it would be difficult and we had to challenge ourselves, find something deep within, Sterling said. We said if there s any setbacks in the game – we didn t expect the red card – we kept playing our football.
We kept trying to probe, we kept trying to create chances, we kept compact. We got the penalty in the end.
We shouldn t have conceded that sloppy penalty, but we got lucky at the end.
Start off on the right foot
— Raheem Sterling (@sterling7)
Sterling s club team-mate Phil Foden made his international debut in the starting XI and he feels the playmaker s breakthrough, along with that of Greenwood, points towards a bright future.
Phil, Mason – he s a player I ve been excited by and I m glad to be playing with, the 25-year-old added.
Phil is a player who gets on the ball, one or two touches, and he s sharp. It s a bright future ahead. We just need to keep growing as a team and each camp we can see that s happening.
Southgate s men return to action against Denmark in Group A2 on Tuesday.
