Kane happy with England's performance against Tunisia

England captain Harry Kane has declared himself happy with the Three Lions’ Jekyll-and-Hyde performance against Tunisia.

With Belgium winning their opening match against Panama 3-0, England knew they had to match their Group G rival’s result, but if they were feeling the pressure early they didn’t show it.

The Three Lions started confidently, playing with pace, power and verve and they took the lead through Kane after just 10 minutes.

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However, after their strong start Gareth Southgate’s men faded alarmingly and were anemic throughout the entire second half – until Kane popped up with the winner in injury time.

“I thought we played very well,” Kane said. “There are always a bit of nerves, a bit of excitement, but we got into the game very quickly, it went to 1-1 and the momentum changed a bit. It is always in the back of your mind that it is not going to be your day but that is why you work for 90+ minutes.

“We wanted to create chances and we did that. We could’ve scored two or three goals and put the game to bed. I’m really pleased with how we played.”

Kane was the focus of attention for Tunisia’s defence at every set piece, where he was often manhandled and had several good penalty shouts go ignored by the on-field referee and VAR officials.

Kane said, “[I’m] maybe a bit disappointed (to not get a penalty and for England to concede one) on the pitch their penalty looked quite soft. That is what VAR is there for. At a few corners I couldn’t move. We just have to hope the officials get it right. If they don’t think it is a penalty we have to deal with it.”

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And Kane confirmed England players had found it tough to cope with certain aspects of the atmosphere despite his own personal heroics.

Asked about the flies in Volgograd, man of the match Kane said: “There were a lot more than we thought.

“We got told before that there was going to be a lot of flies and when we went out for the warm-up there were more than we thought. We had a lot of bug spray on and that was important.

“We had some of them in our eyes and some of them in our mouth. It’s just part of dealing with whatever comes your way and the team coped with it well.”

After finishing bottom of their group in 2014, the Tottenham striker is still confident that this England side is in a better position to progress through the knockout rounds this time around because of their off-field camaraderie.

“We are proud of each other and in a World Cup you are not sure how it is going to go, but we have a great togetherness and are always proud to see it come off in the game. We never panicked, never looked like conceding another one and got what we deserved in the end.”