No Sympathy For Wales- Roy Hodgson

 

Roy Hodgson insisted he does not feel sorry for his opponents as he basked in the joy of England's injury-time victory over Wales at Euro 2016. Gareth Bale had given Wales the lead in the first half of Thursday's Group B clash in Lens, but Jamie Vardy equalised 11 minutes after the interval before fellow substitute Daniel Sturridge struck in the dying moments to send England top of the group.

England were denied victory by an added-time goal for Russia in their opening Euro 2016 fixture and Hodgson had little sympathy for opposing boss Chris Coleman who described it as the lowest moment of his career.

He said “It is amazing we played so well against Russia and conceded in the 93rd minute. Today we worked so hard in the second half and pushed and pushed and then scored in the 92nd minute, I suppose it shows things do even out but it is rare to see them even out in the space of two games. If I had been watching from afar and not been with England and watching Wales play some other opponent I would have felt very sorry for them. But they will have to excuse me not feeling sorry for them because I want to be pleased with ourselves. Had we not conceded that very late goal to Russia to rob us of what we thought would be a very deserved victory I would probably have been slightly less ecstatic.”

Both of England's goals came from half-time substitutes and Hodgson laughed when asked if that was the greatest double change of his career but he insisted he needs the likes of Vardy, Sturridge and Marcus Rashford to offer competition to Harry Kane up front. Vardy and Sturridge replaced Kane and Raheem Sterling and will now be pushing for starts in England's final group game against Slovakia on Monday. Sterling missed a golden opportunity just seven minutes into the match, but Hodgson defended his inclusion after claiming he played well against Russia.