It was ugly but Sam Allardyce’s first game in charge of England ended in a win thanks to Adam Lallana’s first goal in the fifth minute of added time
7.09pm BST
Related: Adam Lallana’s last-gasp strike gives England victory over 10-man Slovakia
7.00pm BST
There is a lot to work to do for Allardyce and several players need to up their game or face the chop – in particular the labouring Kane and sloppy Rooney. But still, a win is a win. England have three points on the board. Slovakia, who ended up with 10 men after Martin Skrtel was sent off, are grim to watch when they sit back like that but should get results against the lesser teams in this group. Thanks for reading – and for your emails and tweets, even the rude ones. Until next time!
6.56pm BST
And that’s it. England win in Allardyce’s first game in charge thanks to Lallana’s first international goal. It was not pretty for long spells and it took 65 minutes for a shot on target but their pressure persevered and the visitors found a way. A win to be filed in the drawer marked ugly.
6.54pm BST
90 min +5: It’s happened! Rose does well to get in a low cross from the left. It is deflected off Kubik and into the Liverpool player’s path. Surrounded by players, he composes himself and finds a way past Kozacik.
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90 min +4: Walcott sends a cross in but it’s cleared.
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90 min +3: Play restarts but Stones commits a foul deep in Slovakia’s half. That will use up another 30 seconds.
6.50pm BST
90 min: There will be four minutes added on. But it will become more because Kozacik has sat down and taken a rest. The trainer is coming on for him.
6.50pm BST
90 min: Sturridge is under pressure from Kiss and the ball reaches the patch of Walcott and unmarked three yards out, he finds the net. But he is certainly offside. England protest but it is the correct call.
6.49pm BST
90 min: Walcott finds the net but it is offside!
6.48pm BST
89 min: Sturridge cuts in from the left and tries to curl past Kozacik from 25 yards. It’s easy for the Slovakia goalkeeper.
6.46pm BST
86 min: It is all England now but there is no way through. Rooney picks out Walcott with an accurate pass but the substitute is both offside and unable to find the target from a decent position.
6.44pm BST
85 min: Lallana has a pop after being fed by Stones. The shot drags across goal and wide.
6.44pm BST
84 min: Walcott completes a decent move for the first time since coming on, almost finding Sturridge with a cross from the right. But the substitute is a whisker away from cleanly connecting a few yards from goal.
6.42pm BST
83 min: Rooney, growing increasingly desperate, has a shot from 25 yards blocked by one of the wall of Slovakia defenders in front of him. He needs to be more clever than that.
6.40pm BST
81 min: Daniel Sturridge is Allardyce’s final switch, coming on for Kane. Rooney, by the way, went down very easily.
6.40pm BST
80 min: Rooney goes down in the box under pressure after a cross from the right by Walker. It’s hard to say on first viewing whether it should be a penalty or not.
6.38pm BST
78 min: Slovakia’s final sub sees Kiss come on for the lively Svento.
6.35pm BST
76 min: And now Lallana’s pot shot hits the post. Walcott’s rebound is completely mishit but then Lallana shoots again, only to be denied by Kozacik. In the words of Andy Townsend: “better!”
6.34pm BST
76 min: Alli plays a good ball towards Walcott on the right but the Arsenal player’s first touch is shocking and the break falls apart.
6.34pm BST
75 min: Hamsik has been very quiet today.
6.30pm BST
72 min: Slovakia make their second change. Kubik replaces Mak, who was one of the hosts’ best performers.
6.30pm BST
71 min: Rooney fails to hit the target with his free-kick.
6.29pm BST
70 min: The referee gives England a free-kick after Durica fouls Alli but the Spurs player had a definite advantage. It is Sterling who is coming off for Walcott.
6.28pm BST
69 min: Theo Walcott is getting ready to come on. For, you suspect, Lallana.
6.27pm BST
68 min: Alli, at least, looks to have a bit more zip. Rooney finds him in the area but he is crowded out by white shirts.
6.25pm BST
66 min: Rooney shoots from a little under 25 yards and Kozacik parries. Alli almost gets to the rebound but it ends with a corner. The pressure is finally being piled on. That is England’s first shot on target!
6.23pm BST
64 min: Alli is finally coming on, for Henderson. And he looks to be taking over a more advanced role.
6.23pm BST
64 min: A good chance for Lallana, who still has not scored an international goal. Walker sends a tasty ball forward for Henderson, who flicks it back to his Liverpool team-mate. Lallana lacks composure and blasts wide off his left.
6.22pm BST
Style watch: “Watching this on the Spanish channel in the US,” emails Luke Crane. “Boring as hell but I did notice that while Skrtel (doesn’t he get sent off every game) was stamping on Kane, that he is sporting hair on his head rather than the shaved to the bone. A much better look for him. He looks handsome. Almost.”
6.20pm BST
61 min: Svento sends a dangerous cross in from the left but Rose covers well under pressure from Mak to head away for a corner. Mak takes and Henderson gets rid.
6.19pm BST
60 min: Dele Alli is being readied to come on. Meanwhile, Lallana tries to find Rooney from the right but there’s too much weight on the cross and Slovakia will have a throw-in on their right flank.
6.17pm BST
58 min: Should have had a bet on that when mentioned earlier. This is oh so predictable. He wins the ball off Kane, who then goes to ground after a fair but firm challenge. However Skrtel follows through and nastily stamps on Kane’s calf. That is ugly and he deserves a straight red, but it’s a pair of yellows. Just before that Gyomber replaced Pecovsky.
6.15pm BST
56 min: Slovakia win a couple of corners. Mak delivers outswingers from the right on both ocassions but neither lead to a clearcut opportunity for the hosts.
6.13pm BST
53 min: Rooney picks out Henderson with an improved delivery sent towards the back stick. The Liverpool midfielder heads across goal but Kozacik claims it.
6.12pm BST
52 min: Skrtel has generally been comfortable when up against Kane but, on a yellow, he launches into a silly challenge on the left. It’s just a foul but what odds the centre half failing to complete the match?
6.11pm BST
51 min: Kane gets half a sight of goal but cannot connect cleanly. Scrap that earlier mention of a formation change, Rooney is back in midfield.
6.09pm BST
50 min: Henderson shoots high and wide from range. That’s not going to bother anybody but the supporters behind the Slovakian keeper’s goal.
6.08pm BST
48 min: From the corner the ball breaks to Sterling and his shot is deflected out for another. The second time, Dier is penalised for being a little too physical in the area. Kozacik will take the free out.
6.07pm BST
48 min: England have switched to the 4-2-3-1 we all expected before the game!
6.06pm BST
47 min: Sterling backheels between Pekarik’s legs and the defender frustratedly then fouls the England player. The free is taken short to Sterling on the left, via Kane, and England win a corner.
6.05pm BST
46 min: Slovakia restart. And the stand across from the TV camera looks pretty much empty. Can you blame them for spending a little longer getting a bite and a sip?
6.04pm BST
The players are back out.
6.03pm BST
“Same as it ever was”
5.54pm BST
Some of your half-time thoughts
“Rooney being picked, then made captain, makes little sense,” emails Carlos Escobedo. “Great club player but awful England player. He carries all of the negativity, pessimism and and losing ways of all the recent England teams. Let’s make someone like Dier or Cahill the captain and leave Rooney back at home, please!”
@alansmith90 It must give Wayne Rooney incredible encouragement, to know that no matter how lousy he plays he's in the team regardless
@alansmith90 Question from abroad: why do you English pay Rooney 300.000 pounds per week, yet seem confused week in & out hes not 10% that?
If there's to be another referendum, it should be a straight yes/no vote on whether Danny Drinkwater should start for England @alansmith90
5.48pm BST
45 min +1: The half ends with Rooney finding Rose in the box but he is tackled by Skrtel and both end up injured. If we are being kind, it’s not been vintage.
5.47pm BST
45 min: Pleasingly, there will be one minute added on.
5.45pm BST
43 min: Skrtel is in a tussle with Kane and the striker hits the deck but play continues. Some referees may have given the former Liverpool a second yellow for that.
5.44pm BST
43 min: Rooney picks up possession in his own half and tries to play a simple sideways pass to Dier but, inexplicably, he gives it straight to Mak. Awful.
5.42pm BST
42 min: Durica leaps and gets it away with Kane lurking behind him.
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41 min: Kane has actually had a shot. It’s deflected out for a corner by Skrtel. Cahill and Stones are up, Rooney will take.
5.42pm BST
40 min: Skrtel has really been doing a job on Kane so far. He is too strong and too wise, despite getting that booking earlier on.
5.40pm BST
39 min: Ok, this is better. Kane cuts the ball in towards Sterling. He composes himself well but shoots across goal and narrowly wide. That is the first shot of the game.
5.40pm BST
38 min: England’s response: a dreadful, pointless pump forward from Wayne Rooney.
5.39pm BST
38 min: What a chance for Slovakia. Rose is robbed in his own box by Pekarik, who then gives it to Duris. The lone striker plays a low cross towards Svento but he just fails to connect.
5.38pm BST
Early days and all but this is fair based on the opening 37 minutes.
The only difference I can see Big Sam having made is to have left our best player at home. Crosses awful, backwards play, ... @alansmith90
5.36pm BST
35 min: Yep, this time Henderson gives it away. But Slovakia cannot keep the ball either and England will continue to play it conservatively across the defence.
5.36pm BST
34 min: Duris tries to cross from the right but Stones covers the angle, giving Slovakia their first corner of the evening? Mak puts in an outswinger and Hart is fouled. The free out is taken short and England will, suffice to say, pass it about ponderously for another minute before conceding possession with a misplaced ball forward.
5.34pm BST
33 min: England play it around the back and Hart passes to Stones, who is closed down by Mak and subsequently fouled. From the free-kick a long ball is played forward towards Kane. He is offside.
5.33pm BST
32 min: Who is looking forward to the return of the Premier League?
5.32pm BST
31 min: Joe Hart shanks a clearance into touch.
5.32pm BST
30 min: Cahill commits a pointless foul on Gregus near halfway, and at the same point Rooney is the deepest of all England players, closer to Hart than both Cahill and Stones.
5.30pm BST
29 min: Uefa’s press kit says the pitch is in “excellent” condition. They may need to revise that – there are divots everywhere.
5.28pm BST
27 min: It is sent towards Stones but Kozacik is out to claim, a tad more confidently than the last cross he faced from that side of the pitch.
5.27pm BST
26 min: Rooney pumps the ball in and Skrtel heads it away for a corner. The England captain jogs over to take it.
5.27pm BST
25 min: Ouch! Harry Kane takes one on the nose from Martin Skrtel’s left elbow when battling to win a long ball. It’s not intentional but it’s a free kick about 35 yards from Kozacik’s goal and the Slovakia centre-half earns a yellow card. Kane will receive some treatment but he should be fine.
5.25pm BST
24 min: Henderson picks out another smart Sterling run but the attacker slips and Slovakia have a goal-kick. The pitch appears to be cutting up quite badly here.
5.23pm BST
22 min: A good chance for the hitherto anonymous Kane. Walker sends an excellent low cross in and the striker’s swinging boot meets nothing but the fresh air of Trnava.
5.21pm BST
19 min: That counter yields a throw-in, from where Dier sends an average cross towards Kozacik. It should be bread and butter but the goalkeeper spills it under pressure from that renowned aerial presence Raheem Sterling. At the second time of asking he keeps hold of the ball but let that be a message to England – get those crosses in.
5.20pm BST
18 min: Stones fouls Mak on Slovakia’s right wing. Svento swings it in and Kane heads it away. Eventually they break through Lallana, via some ping pong.
5.19pm BST
“If he thinks this team is more defensive then apart from Sterling why is the midfield and forwards full of plodders?” asks Graham Randall via email. “The build up is so slow and disjointed. Possession for the appearance of possession with no idea what to do with it.” It’s hard to disagree with that but Allardyce has also said this is the most difficult game of the group.
5.18pm BST
15 min: Rose advances again down the left, running on to a back heel from Lallana. Mak is tracking him, though, and makes a fine tackle to dispossess the England left back. It’s a corner, taken short by Rooney, who is given it back from Lallana. Rooney then crosses. It’s way too deep and Slovakia have a goal kick.
5.15pm BST
13 min: And in the absence of any real action, the 1,900 travelling supporters are singing rude songs about the Scotland manager.
On the pitch, England enjoy a prolonged spell of possession but the move ends when Henderson puts too much on a through ball for Sterling, who tries to sprint past Hubocan. Kozacik comes out to smother before the Man City attacker can get to it.
5.13pm BST
12 min: It’s not been a great start, really, but is anybody surprised? Allardyce actually reckoned that this Slovakia XI is more defensive than the one England faced in France. On the early evidence, he is right.
5.11pm BST
9 min: Rooney plays a Hollywood pass from deep towards Sterling, who was cleverly running diagonally in an attempt to catch the Slovakia defence out. Durica heads it away.
5.10pm BST
7 min: Mak’s delivery is headed away from danger by Cahill and Sterling is then tripped up by Svento.
5.07pm BST
6 min: Pekarik is fouled by Rose and wins a free-kick on the right. Both centre halves are up and this may be Hart’s first test of the evening.
5.06pm BST
4 min: Slovakia head on their first jaunt forward, Pekarik has a cross from the right cleared. England are actually playing a 4-3-3, it seems, with Rooney on the left of midfield and Kane flanked by Lallana and Sterling.
5.05pm BST
3 min: Both Rose and Walker are getting forward well already. The latter is fed by Sterling on an overlap from the right but Slovakia clear.
5.03pm BST
2 min: Wayne Rooney has been sitting a little deeper than expected. But he is trotting over to take a corner now, won by a blocked Danny Rose cross. Durica heads it away.
5.02pm BST
1 min: Harry Kane begins the Sam Allardyce regime by passing to Adam Lallana.
4.58pm BST
Every England player sang the national anthem, for those of you bothered by such minor details. Slovakia also belt out their anthem. We are moments away.
@alansmith90 The Slovakian national anthem - fills me with joy to remember the only time I've ever had my answer published in The Knowledge!
4.56pm BST
The teams are emerging from the tunnel. Slovakia are wearing all white today, meaning England are in red with blue socks. Joe Hart is in a Manchester City-like blue.
4.50pm BST
“A Kiss on the home bench? A Rose among the visitors? Call me Crazy, but this match has my Seal of approval,” emails Peter Oh.
And Brooklyn Bell asks: “Who is the ‘McCarthy’ on the England bench?” That would be Alex, the Southampton No2 because his club’s first choice Fraser Forster is injured, along with Jack Butland of Stoke.
4.46pm BST
Sam Allardyce speaks (on ITV)!
“I’m a little nervous I must admit but I’m looking forward to the game. Hopefully the lads give a good performance and most importantly win. It may be a case of breaking down a resilient defensive unit again.”
4.25pm BST
@alansmith90 Question is, how many of this XI start in the next WC (assuming qualification)? I'd wager 5 at the most. You?
As a wild guess: Walker, Stones, Rose, Dier, Sterling, Kane?
4.13pm BST
Slovakia: Kozacik; Pekarik, Skrtel, Durica, Hubocan; Mak, Gregus, Pecovsky, Hamsik, Svento; Duris.
Subs: Novota, Dubravka, Gyomber, Kubik, Kiss, Povazanec, Pich, Sylvester, Pauschek, Stetina.
3.06pm BST
Hello. It’s the dawn of the Sam Allardyce era, but is there much else different when it comes to the England football team apart from the man who will inevitably face the intense criticism when it all falls apart in the quarter final defeat in Russia a little under two years from now?
Eight of the 11 from that diabolical defeat to Iceland in France will start in Trnava this evening against a Slovakia team that are nothing more than ordinary. Then again, the last time these two met it ended scoreless - and if you’ve forgotten about that game in Saint-Étienne then you are immediately forgiven. (Actually, the most memorable thing from that game at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard may have actually been the England fans, who created such an impressive noise while their team looked so muted a few days after those disgusting scenes in Marseille)
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