Glasgow // Harry Kane was left beaming after scoring a dramatic equaliser in his first game as captain to earn England a 2-2 World Cup qualifying draw against Scotland on Saturday.
Two Leigh Griffiths free-kicks left England facing a first qualifying defeat since October 2009, only for Kane to volley in a 93rd-minute leveller from substitute Raheem Sterling’s left-wing cross.
The result kept England top of qualifying Group F, while Scotland remain fourth.
“It is a special day,” said Tottenham Hotspur striker Kane, whose side had taken the lead through Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain goal in the 70th minute.
“To be 2-1 down in stoppage time and get that goal is special. I was trying to get a good contact on it and side-footed into the net,” he said. “You have to expect the unexpected and we were 2-1 down from nowhere, but we found another gear.
“It is a good point away from home. Scotland is no easy place to come.”
Despite the disappointment of missing out on a first win over England since 1999, Griffiths said Scotland would draw strength from their performance.
“I practise the free-kicks every day in training,” said the Celtic striker, who had never previously scored for his country.
“It’s not often they come off. It’s special. It could be a big point for us.
“On our day we can match any-body. We know how good this England side are. We have four games left and we could win all of them.”
After March’s last-gasp 1-0 win over Slovenia, this was another display from Scotland to nourish hope of a first major tournament appearance since the 1998 World Cup.
England were left in no doubt as to what kind of afternoon awaited them before kick-off when , the English national anthem, was drowned out by a volley of Scottish boos.
The tone was the same on the pitch with Scotland captain Scott Brown booked inside three minutes for taking out England danger man Dele Alli from behind.
Urged on by the Hampden Park faithful, Scotland started on the front foot, Griffiths sending a shot down Joe Hart’s throat in the early stages. Scotland’s deep-lying 5-4-1 system starved England’s creative players of space, but gradually cracks began to appear.
After a risky sortie by Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon, Kane saw a lob headed off the line by Kiernan Tierney, with Gordon scampering back to divert Marcus Rashford’s follow-up behind. Gordon was tested again twice before half time, tipping Adam Lallana’s drive into the side netting and unconvincingly fisting a Jake Livermore effort over the bar.
Livermore went even closer early in the second half with a low shot that was deflected against the base of Gordon’s left-hand post.
But Scotland posed a threat on the break, Andrew Robertson spurning a sight of goal by slicing over from Griffiths’s cut-back and Stuart Armstrong curling off target.
Southgate reacted by sending on Oxlade-Chamberlain for Rashford in the 65th minute and five minutes later, the Arsenal man put England ahead.
After gathering a throw-in on the right, Oxlade-Chamberlain twirled around Brown, edged across the box and then let fly with a left-foot shot that flew through Gordon’s feeble attempt at a save.
Lallana, the Liverpool star, squandered a chance to extend England’s lead when he headed over.
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