Hodgson gets the substitutions right against Wales

Substitute Daniel Sturridge scored a dramatic victor in injury time to steer England towards a 2-1 win over Wales and top spot in their Euro 2016 group on Thursday (Friday NZ Time).

The Dragons had the lead at half-time after Gareth Bale beat Joe Hart with a 35-yard free-kick shortly before the break, but everything changed in the second stanza.

Trailing by a goal, the English rallied to beat British rival Wales 2-1 Thursday with second-half strikes from Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge, who both entered at halftime with their team’s future in the tournament looking bleak.

When the final, decisive blow came, Hodgson could be seen leaping out of his dugout and embarking on the kind of victory run that has not been seen before during his four years as England manager.

Wales boss Chris Coleman made three changes, with fit-again goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey starting, but it was unchanged England who squandered a golden early chance as Raheem Sterling connected with Adam Lallana’s cross but could only blaze over the crossbar. “Jamie Vardy? Marcus Rashford?”. Sturridge’s victor on Thursday made it six goals in stoppage time out of 34 in all matches at the tournament, against only four scored in the first half-hour of games.

“Subs will play a major part in this tournament”.

“Obviously Sturridge is a good player, no doubt about it, but it could be him or somebody else”.

The positive thing for Wales as they prepare for their final group game is that they remain the masters of their own destiny.

“It’s a long time since myself and the coaching staff have showed such joy at a goal”.

“We’re not asking for any favours, we’ve got to take care of business”.

“It is the manager’s decision to choose the team and pick whatever team he feels is best”, he said. “We have to put it to bed and get ready for Russian Federation”.

“We’ve got one game left which we need to play and finish the job off. There is a big game in a few days and we must stay strong and stay together”.

Upvote six players to start, and we’ll cram them into an appropriate formation. “We can finish top of the group”. “It’s whichever team’s able to put the disappointment behind them from this middle round of fixtures which will prevail”, added Coleman.

City skipper Ashley Williams’s performance against England did not impress French newspaper L’Equipe.

The Liverpool striker, introduced at half-time, burst into the penalty area in stoppage time to thread the ball through a crowd of players and inside the near post to seal a 2-1 Group B victory.