Gareth Southgate delighted with Marcus Rashford's 'fearlessness' for his starring role in England's comeback win

The forward gave the ball away with a run in his own half for Slovakia's opening goal, but recovered to set up Eric Dier’s equaliser and then hit the second-half winner

Rashford was named Man of the Match for his role in the comeback win (Getty)

Gareth Southgate praised Marcus Rashford’s fearlessness in overcoming an early error to score the match-winner that sealed a 2-1 win for England over Slovakia at Wembley, and felt it also reflected the developing “maturity” of his young side.

The Manchester United forward had given the ball away with a run in his own half for Stanislav Lobotka’s opening goal, but recovered to set up Eric Dier’s equaliser and then hit the second-half winner.

It puts England to within a point of automatic World Cup qualification with just two games left, and Southgate felt his side deserved credit after a tough week when they were booed off the pitch at half-time of the 4-0 win over Malta.

Rashford could have faced a similarly tough night, but didn’t let the early error get to him.

“It didn't surprise me,” Southgate said.

“Having worked with him, he's such a mature character. The start surprised me. But it felt, the switch of wings, was important as well. It allowed him 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.

“I don't think the team did, either, and responded well. He's still a work in progress as we saw at the beginning of the game, but he's getting stronger. His impact, in taking people on and getting us up the pitch in the counter-attack, was huge. He had a huge impact on the game.”

Southgate praised the resilience of his side.

Rashford atoned for his early mistake (Getty) (Getty Images)

“A big week for them, actually. To go through the experience of Friday, the spotlight of life as an England player over the last couple of days, and then to go behind here... The crowd could have turned but were actually fantastic.

“We had to show resilience, a good tactical reaction on the pitch. And, for a starting lineup who are still incredibly young, they're good experiences to go through because they build belief.

“So I am really pleased. In the second half we controlled the game really well. I am very proud of what the players have done. They showed real maturity. We didn't start the game well. We were too stretched without the ball, and didn't keep it well enough. Slovakia pressed us well and we didn't cope, so we need to improve there.

“Second half we got it right, and certainly once we were 2-1 up where we were patient in our defending and hard to play through. We kept the ball well at 2-1. It wasn't a case of hanging on and panicking. We kept possession for long periods to see the game out, which was pleasing to see.”