England 2 (Vardy 56’, Sturridge 90+1’)
Wales 1 (Bale 42’)
Daniel Sturridge and Jamie Vardy proved inspired substitutions for England manager Roy Hodgson as the Liverpool and Leicester City strikers struck to inflict a 2-1 defeat of Wales in Lens and gave England their first win in Group A on Thursday.
Gareth Bale’s superb free kick, although it has to be said Joe Hart was at fault in the England goal, gave Wales a lead to take into the break. Hodgson withdrew the ineffective Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane at half time, replacing them with Sturridge and Vardy, and it paid almost immediate dividends as Vardy latched on to a botched backwards header from Wales centre-back Ashley Williams to prod home from close range.
See also:
• Gallery: Leicester and Liverpool strikers Vardy and Sturridge ride to England's rescue against Wales
• Ian Hawkey: Wales, with no shortage of confidence, out to claim place as dominant British nation of Euro 2016
• Richard Jolly: Napoli's Marek Hamsik exposes Russian futility while Slovakia earn their landmark victory
England went in search of a winner, with Hodgson throwing on another striker – Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford – for the tiring Adam Lallana and a combination of Rashford and close control from Dele Alli found Sturridge in space and the Liverpool forward made no mistake with another close-range finish.
The victory gives England four points from their opening two games of Group A, following last week’s 1-1 draw with Russia, while Wales, who beat Slovakia 2-1 in their opener, are on three points and will probably require at least a point in there final Group A match against Russia to advance to the last 16.
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