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| Rashford celebrates scoring for England. |
Gareth Southgate praised match-winner Marcus Rashford after showing maturity and composure to score an all important goal for England.
Wembley bore witness to an entertaining World Cup qualifier on Monday evening, with things getting off to the worst possible start as Stanislav Lobotka broke through to fire the visitors ahead.
Rashford was culpable for the opener but rallied manfully, following up his assist for Eric Dier by firing in from distance to secure England a spirited 2-1 victory, putting them five points clear of second-placed Slovakia in Group F.
Southgate said that despite Rashford's age, he's not surprised with the impact of his 19-year-old forward.
"No (it didn't surprise me)," Southgate said of Rashford's response to his difficult start.
"Having worked with him, he's such a mature character. The start surprised me, but I felt the switch of wings was important as well - it allowed him a slightly different defensive role, and he adapted very well to that.
"His maturity is excellent. You look at him and he's never in awe of the occasion, he doesn't have any fear of anything, although, to be fair, I don't think the team did. I thought they responded well.
"He's still a work in progress, as we saw at the beginning of the game, but he's still getting stronger and his impact in taking people on, in getting us up the pitch in counter-attacks, was not only huge for the team but the crowd as well.
He had a huge impact on the game."
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