Eric Dier delighted with England's 'stepping stone' win over Slovakia

England’s three points puts them on the brink of the Russia World Cup, but Dier was especially impressed with how the team recovered from an early set-back against Slovakia

Dier was delighted with how England responded (Getty)

Eric Dier hailed England’s 2-1 win over Slovakia on Monday night as a vital “stepping stone”, but not just for the obvious reasons. England’s three points puts them on the brink of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, but Dier was especially impressed with how they played, recovering from an early set-back to take control of the game and win.

England took great heart from the way they shook off their bad start, refusing to panic, as they often do in such situations. When they went 1-0 down early on it was easy enough to remember how they crashed out of Euro 2016 to Iceland in the last-16, freezing after going 2-1 and never getting back into the game.

But this time they responded, which Dier took as a mark of the team’s “progression” under new manager Gareth Southgate.

Dier admitted, speaking post-match on Monday night, how bad he thought England began the game, in which they went behind in just the third minute. “We started really poorly, myself included, everyone as a team,” he said.

“We were off it. We were one or two steps behind, everywhere. I thought they are a very good side, they played good football.”

The important thing for England at that moment was that they did not lose control and make even mistakes. It helped too that the England fans stayed behind the team and did not turn on them. “The important thing was to stay calm and not hit the panic button,” said Dier, summing up what so many England teams have mistakenly done in the past.

“I think we avoided that and we slowly got ourselves into the game. It had been a poor start from the whole team but we managed to get ourselves back into the game. We got the goal and from then on we were in control. From half time we were really confident we’d come out and get the win.”

It was very different from England disasters that are still fresh in the memory, not least the Iceland defeat that cost Roy Hodgson his job last June. For England to save themselves on Monday was a sign of progress. “It is true, it does show a progression that we managed to win,” Dier said.

“When we went behind [against Slovakia] at 1-0, the most important thing was to keep calm and not make any rash decisions so that we wouldn’t concede again.”

Dier flicked home England's equaliser (Getty) (Getty Images)

With a big tournament on the horizon, and England almost certain to be there, that gives some hope that they can avoid the mistakes of the past. “You need to have that attitude in any game, tournaments, friendlies, no matter what,” Dier said.

“It is easier said than done, and the bigger the stage the harder it is to do it. Today was a stepping stone in the right direction.”