Hodgson: England deserved point

England manager Roy Hodgson said his side deserved at least a draw against Ukraine as a late Frank Lampard penalty saw them to a 1-1 result.

A wonder strike by Yevgeni Konoplianka in the first half looked to have secured all three points for Oleg Blohkin’s men as the Three Lions laboured to find an opening at Wembley, in stark contrast to their 5-0 demolition of Moldova last Friday in their 2014 World Cup qualifying opener.

But Chelsea midfielder Lampard converted from the spot after substitute Danny Welbeck won an 86th-minute penalty – and it was no less than England deserved for the style in which they played, according to Hodgson, as they moved to four points through two games in Group H of UEFA qualifying.

“Had we lost it would have been very harsh, we certainly deserved at least a draw,” Hodgson told ITV.

“In general terms we went a goal down to a wonder goal but I was really pleased by the way we kept probing, we kept playing, we kept trying. We didn’t resort to any hopeful long balls into the penalty area, we kept trying to play our way through.”

When asked if referee Cuneyt Cakir cost England the chance of the win, Hodgson refused to lay the blame solely on the officials yet questioned the number of cards handed out in light of captain Steven Gerrard’s late dismissal for a second bookable offence.

“Obviously I’m disappointed,” he added.

“I don’t know too many people (who will disagree) that some of the yellow cards were a bit hard to take.

“If he (Gerrard) committed two fouls in the game I’d be surprised.

“We kept creating chances all the way throughout the game and luckily we got out our reward by getting an equaliser. Who knows, if Steven had stayed on the field for the last 10 minutes we might even have got the winner.”

Hodgson did find time to salute the Ukrainians though, who battled well for a point at Wembley.

“All credit to the Ukraine, they played well enough in the game. It was a good game of football – at least I’m happy we came out of it with something,” he said.