England 2-1 Slovakia LIVE: Marcus Rashford gives Three Lions the lead

England v Slovakia: Express Sport brings you LIVE World Cup qualifying updates from Wembley

74: Still no changes from Gareth Southgate, which is a wise decision if you ask me. England look settled and dangerous on the break.

70: Dele Alli draws a free-kick on the edge of the area. Marcus Rashford steps up… over. Couldn’t get the curl on it. 67,823 inside Wembley tonight, apparently. That’s the lowest attendance in three years.

67:Analysis from our reporter Richard Tanner.

The kid’s got character. Many youngster’s might have gone into a shell after early mistake. But Rashford simply set about making amends – and how.

Delivered the corner for Dier’s goal and has now put England in front with a fine strike  – his second goal for his country and his first at Wembley.

63: Danger! Slovakia win a free-kick next to the right touchline. England don’t deal with it and Tomas Hubocan slams it into the ground and over the bar.

59: ENGLAND 2-1 SLOVAKIA – RASHFORD

Boom! England take the lead through Marcus Rashford!

The Manchester United star collects it slightly to the right of centre and smashes it into the bottom-left corner from outside the area.

Tremendous effort from the 19-year-old.

58: So close! Harry Kane wriggles his way through three challenges inside the area before blasting it across the face of goal. His shot was tipped into the path of Alli, but the midfielder couldn’t adjust his feet quick enough.

57: Alli still running the show. He tees up the Ox, who’s first-time half-volley is well held. It’s coming folks, I can feel it. Umm… liquid football. Absolute liquid football from Slovakia. A series of wonderful one-twos results in Joe Hart parrying away Nemec’s volley at the back post.

55: Much better from England. There’s quick passing, movement off the ball and a real intensity. Can’t remember the last time I wrote that during a Three Lions match!

52: Alli scoops the ball over to Oxlade-Chamberlain, but the winger/wing-back/midfielder (or whatever he fancies himself as) sees his shot deflected back to Martin Dubravka.

49: Two of the shorts fuses then go head-to-head with Alli shoving Skrtel as he ushered the ball out of play. Luckily, for Dele, the Slovakian veteran didn’t respond.

48: Brilliant play. Dele Alli is finding space and looking a class above. He plays a neat one-two with Marcus Rashford, but his shot is blocked and Henderson sends the rebound wide.

45: We’re back underway folks. No changes at the break.

TWITTER ROUND-UP

Rob: Kyle Walker gets nothing on the ball. That is a shocker!

Tax: In 135 minutes of international football. Joe Hart’s not saved one shot. Not one!

Duncan: Kyle Walker is the English Alberto Moreno. Great going forward, headless chicken going back.

HT: Just had a quick look back at Kyle Walker’s last-ditch tackle. Replays actually show that he chopped down Weiss, and didn’t touch the ball. Very lucky escape because that could have been red.

HT:Analysis from our reporter Richard Tanner.

Eric Dier doesn’t get many goals for Tottenham but he’s notched some crackers for England. There was that powerful header against Germany in Berlin, a superb free-kick v Russia in Euro 2016 and now a delightful flick to give England a much-needed equaliser – and hopefully a huge lift in confidence.

HT: ENGLAND 1-1 SLOVAKIA

Kyle Walker makes a crucial interception in the dying moments to deny Vladimir Weiss, who had beaten the offside trap.

Well that was a heck of a lot more entertaining than we were expecting! England looked shell-shocked when Stanislav Lobotka gave Slovakia the lead, but there was a decent response from Gareth Southgate’s side. All to play for!

43: Save! Marcus Rashford gives the goalkeeper the eyes and shoots towards the near post. Very nearly ahead before the break.

40: That’s certainly perked the Wembley crowd up! England have settled and came close to adding a second through Ryan Bertrand, but Martin Dubravka parries his shot away.

36: ENGLAND 1-1 SLOVAKIA – DIER

And there’s the equaliser! Thank God!

Marcus Rashford delivers a low corner from the right, and Tottenham’s Eric Dier manages to half-volley it in at the near post.

It was just in the nick of time too, the England fans were in the process of cracking out the beach ball!

35: Rashford has drifted over to the left flank with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain moving over to the right.

32: Northern Ireland are 1-0 through Jonny Evans. Tony Pulis would be proud. Back at Wembley, England are enjoying tons of possession but nothing to threaten Slovakia’s stopper. Marcus Rashford is slipped through by Alli but the Manchester United forward scuffs his effort wide.

29: Walker’s cross picks out Alli, but the midfielder’s header pings off the arm of the onrushing Bertrand. Unlucky.

26:Analysis from our reporter Richard Tanner.

That early mistake will have brought Rashford down to earth after all the praise following his second half performance against Malta. Penny for your thought’s Raheem?!

25: Having seen two or three decent chances pass them by England are struggling to get the ball back. No such problems for Germany, they’re 3-0 up against Norway after 20 minutes.

22: Here comes Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain… and there goes a terrible shot. Another 3v2 situation for England but Liverpool’s £35million signing spoons it over the bar.

19: Dele Alli looks to recreate that stunner he scored against Crystal Palace a few years ago, but he’s dragged it wide. Glenn Hoddle won’t stop talking about Slovakia’s ‘zonal marking’ from corners. Hopefully Gareth Southgate’s taking note.

16: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Dele Alli bust a gut to support Harry Kane, but the Spurs striker goes alone and wins a corner. Marcus Rashford whips it in but it fails to beat the first man.

13: This isn’t looking very good. England are defending really deep and Harry Kane is totally isolated in attack. Slovakia showing real confidence here. Does it have anything to do with the fact they’re wearing the same colours as Iceland?

10: Joe Hart is taking a bit of stick on Twitter. Probably not much he could have done about that, but he’s conceded 11 goals in five games now. It’s becoming a habit!

7: Well this should be interesting. England HAVE to chase the game now, and with some urgency too! Harry Kane and Dele Alli look to combine down the left flank but it’s dealt with.

3: ENGLAND 0-1 SLOVAKIA – LOBOTKA

Aaaaaand we’re losing.

Manchester United star Marcus Rashford loses ball to Stanislav Lobotka, fails to track him, and the Celta Vigo star finishes neatly after playing a one-two with Nemec.

Probably the worst start possible, but I suppose there’s plenty of time to respond.

2: What an electric start! I’m joking obviously, it’s been relatively quiet with both sides settling into their rhythms. Ryan Bertrand has already been warned for tugging back Weiss.

1: ENGLAND 0-0 SLOVAKIA

OK, we’re underway. Please let this be better than Friday!

19:43: Wait, how long has Martin Skrtel had hair?! Must have got a two for one special with Shane Warne.

19:40: We’re almost underway folks. Jordan Henderson is leading the side out now and the national anthems will be blared out to a half-empty stadium. Doubt it’ll be the most powerful rendition you’ll hear.

19:35: Hmmmmm, if there’s going to be 70,000 spectators inside Wembley tonight – they might want to hurry up! Huge areas of empty seats.

TWITTER ROUND-UP

Fernando: The last time I was excited by England was probably in Euro 2004… a great squad but the same old problems.

Dan: Joe Hart seems to be invincible in this England setup. Would like to see Butland or Pickford get a game.

Peter: Must be the only man on earth that thinks that England 11 is decent.

19:25: I should mention that Northern Ireland and Scotland are also in action tonight. They’re playing Czech Republic and Malta respectively.

Northern Ireland can confirm second place and a likely play-off spot with a draw

19:20: The boys are out on the pitch warming up. I hope someone’s told them that four of the eight goals England have conceded under Gareth Southgate have been scored in the 87th minute or later.

19:15: Hold the phone, lads. We’ve been dissed!

Slovakia star Vladimir Weiss has delivered some Connor McGregor-esque trash talk after saying England are rubbish at tournaments…

“You look at England and they always win their qualification group. Then when it comes to the big tournaments they never do well,” Weiss said.

“But yes, they have great young players coming up so obviously they are still the favourites in the group. But they won’t have it easy against us.”

Actually, he’s been fairly accurate on reflection…

19:10: Here’s the opposition folks. 

Slovakia XI: Dubravka, Pekarik, Skrtel, Durica, Hubocan, Weiss, Skriniar, Hamsik, Mak, Lobotka, Nemec.

Subs: Novota, Polacek, Gyomber, Mazan, Gregus, Duda, Mihalik, Rusnak, Hrosovsky, Sabo, Kucka, Duris.

19:05: Right, there’s six teams already through to the 2018 World Cup. They include; Iran, Belgium, Japan, Russia, Mexico and Brazil. Just 26 left folks.

19:00: Are those free T-Shirts I spy over there?! Just one of the few reasons to visit Wembley I suppose.

18:55: Look like we’ve got some beef… with ourselves! That’s how every successful team starts, right?

Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate has described supporters who question the players’ pride as “outrageous” and “unhelpful” after England were booed off the field after Friday’s win over Malta.

“The notion the players aren’t proud to play is outrageous really,” the England manager said. “I don’t see how it can be helpful for the team.

“Maybe we had bad days when I was playing and the easiest, basest reaction is to say, ‘They don’t care’. More often than not, though, players have cared too much and have not been able to give their best for that reason.

TWITTER ROUND-UP

Lee: I like the England team tonight! Let’s hope we can put on a good show and win the game more importantly

Matt: Imagine actually having a national football team who you look forward to watching and even sometimes play some exciting football? 

Kyle: Why is Joe Hart starting above Tom Heaton Everyone knows Heaton is statistically the best keeper in the best league in the world!

18:45: Want to know what Joey Barton thinks of Gareth Southgate? It doesn’t matter, I’m going to tell you anyway.

Barton is livid after hearing Southgate say his England side had no chance of matching some of the world’s best teams, and believes he should removed from his role after just 10 months if he really thinks like that.

“He should be sacked, sack him,” Barton said on talkSPORT this morning.

“If he doesn’t believe England can be the best footballing nation, you’ve just got to get rid of him. I’m deadly serious. If he genuinely feels that’s the case, he has to go. If he doesn’t believe he can get them there, why’s he saying that’s where they are right now?”

Can’t fault his passion.

18:35: Gareth Southgate has made two changes to the side that laboured to victory over Malta.

Eric Dier replaces Jake Livermore, while Marcus Rashford comes in for Raheem Sterling.

Joe Hart keeps his place and Liverpool star Jordan Henderson is appointed captain.

18:30: Here’s tonight’s starting XI folks.

England XI: Hart, Walker, Bertrand, Henderson, Cahill, Jones, Rashford, Dier, Kane, Alli, Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Subs: Smalling, Butland, Cresswell, Keane, Stones, Chalobah, Livermore, Sturridge, Welbeck, Vardy, Sterling, Heaton.

TWITTER ROUND-UP

Tony: I hope England paint the town red tonight. Then for a bit of excitement after the match, we can watch it dry.

Jack: Just been sent a survey from FA about what it’s like to watch England at Wembley – absolutely tragic. Least they’re trying to improve.

Jay: If having Southgate as your manager ain’t bad enough, Henderson could be our captain! I’m done with England if that’s the case.

Not seeing much love for England tonight. It’s like reading the comments about Noel Fielding on the Great British Bake Off.

18:20: Here’s a snap of tonight’s programme folks. And it’s yours for the very reasonable price of £6…

18:15: OK, here’s what the boss said about tonight’s match.

Southgate was eager to promise fans excitement tonight, but wants the crowd to play their part.

He said: “We have some exciting players and we want to show that.

“We have a responsibility to get the Wembley crowd on their feet but equally, everywhere we go in the world the home crowd give the team a lift. It will be great if we can get the level of support that stadium can bring.

“The whole country wants to be at the World Cup. It is a great opportunity for us.”

18:10: Did anybody watch Friday’s 4-0 victory over Malta? Me neither.

Despite a overwhelming lack of interest, England took a fair amount of stick for their lacklustre performance.

Three late goals from Ryan Bertrand, Danny Welbeck and Harry Kane masked what was a largely colourless display against a team ranked 190th in the world.

But Gareth Southgate has reliably informed us tonight will be different. Now if that doesn’t keep you glued to this blog, I don’t know what will!

18:05: I saw a poll on Twitter earlier asking people whether they would prefer to watch Coronation Street or England on ITV tonight.

I’m sorry to say that the Manchester-based soap opera won by some margin. Although I’m fully prepared to blame that on the analysis of Lee Dixon and Andy Townsend…

18:00: Good evening folks, welcome to our LIVE coverage of England’s 2018 World Cup qualifier with Slovakia.

We’re at Wembley this evening for an extremely important match for Gareth Southgate’s side.

Victory, and we’ll have virtually automatically qualified for the tournament in Russia.

Defeat, and we face the prospect of a play-off for a spot at next summer’s competition.

And we all know what happens to England in knockout situations…

PREVIEW

The Three Lions lead Group F by two points. Victory will leave them five points clear of Slovakia with two games left to play.

Tottenham star Eric Dier is available after serving a one-match suspension against Malta.

Harry Maguire and Jesse Lingard have been omitted from the squad because UEFA only allows 23 players to be registered for each game.

Slovakia manager Jan Kozak said: “This English side is very exciting, they have a great future ahead.

“There is a lot of talent there and these players are being given opportunities to get the experience they need.

“I like the current composition of their team and I think they are the future of football. Maybe they lack one more creative player to manage their play but overall it is a great squad.”