Adam Lallana on his first England goal: It's been a long while coming but I knew it was just a matter of time

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James Benge4 September 2016

Adam Lallana finally broke his international duck on Saturday night and he could not have picked a better time – scoring the only goal against Slovakia with almost the last kick of the game.

Prior to the 1-0 win in Trnava the Liverpool midfielder had played 26 times for England without once finding the net, and it seemed set to be another night of near misses for Lallana, who hit the post with a fine strike on 77 minutes.

But in the sixth minute added time Lallana squeezed a low shot under Matus Kozacik to snatch three points for England from the obdurate 10 men of Slovakia, who had lost centre-back Martin Skrtel to a red card just before the hour.

"It's been a long time coming, I put pressure on myself and I knew it was just a matter of time," Lallana told ITV.

"I had a few chances tonight, (the shot against the post) was a great effort.

"We kept plugging away and credit to the lads, it's a great start for Sam and the team. He made it very clear that we needed to keep a clean sheet, anywhere you play away from home it's going to be tough."

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