England boss Gareth Southgate praised the mentality of his players after seeing them fight back to secure a 1-1 draw with North Macedonia.
The Three Lions were stunned when referee Filip Glova awarded the hosts a penalty after a VAR check saw debutant Rico Lewis’ hand catch the face of Bojan Miovski.
Jordan Pickford did well to save Enis Bardhi’s initial effort from the spot but a kind rebound saw the midfielder give North Macedonia the lead heading into half time.
After the break, Southgate introduced Harry Kane and was instantly rewarded when the captain’s header came off Jani Atanasov for an own goal to bring England level.
However, the Three Lions were unable to build on their equaliser and had to settle for a draw to bring their qualifying campaign to a tame end.
Still, England boss Southgate was happy with the mentality of his players to come back from a goal down.
The really big results were in March, winning in Italy and the result against Ukraine.
“It meant coming here tonight was a different test, given we’ve qualified and everything was achieved.
“The mentality of the players was excellent, the quality with the ball was good on a very difficult pitch and a lot of positive performances.”
England finished top of Group C, meaning they will enter pot one of the Euro 2024 group stage draw alongside Germany, Portugal, France, Spain and Belgium.
