England manager Roy Hodgson labels Russia equaliser a 'moment of unbelievable quality'

Staying positive: Roy Hodgson
PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images
Sam Long11 June 2016

Roy Hodgson believes Russia's equalising goal against England was "a moment of unbelievable quality" and is determined to take the positives from his side's performance at the Stade Velodrome.

The Three Lions started brightly and dominated possession at the expense of a Russia team that lost several key players in the build-up to the tournament.

Yet England had to wait until the closing stages of the game to take the lead when Eric Dier curled home a superb free kick and then squandered their advantage late on.

Vasili Berezutski isolated Danny Rose at the back post and sent a looping header over Joe Hart to snatch a point and deny England victory in their opening game.

England vs Russia: Player Ratings

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Hodgson admitted tonight's draw felt like a defeat and also opted to praise Russia's attacking impetus rather than England's defensive frailties when asked about the equaliser.

"When you have dominated the game as much as we did and then concede a goal two minutes into injury time, of course it feels much more like a defeat," he told the BBC.

"There are a lot of good things in our performance tonight.

"Unfortunately for us it was a very good goal they scored to equalise and we have to accept that disappointment and move on.

"It was a moment of unbelievable quality from their side, and I don't think that came from any signs of us showing mismanagement personally," he added.

Captain Wayne Rooney excelled in a central midfield role as part of a 4-3-3 system and Hodgson, who rejected the chance to bring on a striker in the second half, was satisfied with England's display.

"It was a bitter pill to swallow, the equalising goal. There were a lot of things which happened out there that gave me satisfaction.

"I thought the first-half performance in particular was very good, but we didn't start well enough in the second.

"I was satisfied with it [the performance]. I thought we looked very good at times during the game, and personally I thought we deserved to win the game," he added.

England face Wales on Thursday and are likely to need a positive result against Chris Coleman's side, who beat Slovakia earlier today, to keep their hopes of progression alive.

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