Joleon Lescott believes England have got their "toughest" World Cup qualifier out the way after a 1-1 draw against Ukraine at Wembley.
Defender admits it took a determined effort just to earn a point
Joleon Lescott believes England have got their "toughest" World Cup qualifier out the way after a 1-1 draw against Ukraine at Wembley.
Roy Hodgson's men were facing the prospect of a home defeat on Tuesday night with Lescott partially to blame for Yevhen Konoplyanka's stunning opening goal.
But Frank Lampard blasted home the equaliser from the penalty spot with just three minutes remaining to salvage a point for the Three Lions.
And the relief was palpable against a side that England had been a little fortunate to squeeze past in Donetsk at the European Championship in the summer.
"It was our toughest game, I felt, in the Euros, and they showed again what a good team they are," said Lescott.
"There are no easy games in the group but we felt that we probably got our toughest one out of the way."
He added: "They're a good team and our biggest threat in the group also."
Unfortunate
Although far from the better team, England were a little unfortunate at some key moments as they saw a goal harshly disallowed and hit the woodwork twice from close range.
Asked if the players began to think it wasn't going to be their night, Lescott said: "It was starting to get that way.
"But the players we've got and the determination we showed, we're always going to create chances and, luckily for us, we got a penalty and Frank put it away."
He added: "I'm sure that the manager and the fans expect nothing less from us.
"We're a determined bunch of lads and we thought we could've scored early on and obviously go on and get a victory but it just wasn't to be."
City team-mate James Milner insisted England felt hard done by after some controversial refereeing decisions.
"We had a few chances and one or two strange decisions in there as well," he said.
"Lamps has stuck the penalty away fantastically but I think we hit the woodwork a couple of times and a couple of other penalty shouts.
Positives
"We've got to take the positives out as well, look where we can improve, but we kept going to the end and kept trying to do the right things.
"Many teams might've thought, 'It's not our night', after the chances we had.
"It didn't quite go our way but we just kept going and got the goal in the end."
Defender Glen Johnson said: "It's definitely a point gained.
"Four points out of the two games is a good start, so we'll try to progress from here and keep going."
