Rooney delighted with battling spirit

Wayne Rooney praised England’s resolve as they kept battling to the end to keep their 100 per cent Euro 2016 qualifying record intact against Slovenia.

Having fallen behind to their Group E rivals in Ljubljana on Sunday, Jack Wilshere’s two stunning long-range strikes – his first goals for his country – put England ahead after 74 minutes.

Necj Pecnik brought Slovenia level again with six minutes to play, before Rooney sealed the 3-2 win with his 48th international goal after 86 minutes – moving him one behind Bobby Charlton in the all-time list.

“Obviously it’s great to score the winning goal, but it was a great team performance,” he told ITV.

“I thought we were unlucky to be behind, but we came out [in the second half] on the front foot. It was sloppy to let them score [to make it 2-2] but overall it was a great performance.

“We have made a lot of progress since the World Cup. We’re proud of our achievements, we need to keep improving to make sure we qualify and take it from there.”

Meanwhile, two-goal hero Wilshere was delighted to have broken his duck on the international stage in his 28th cap.

“It’s obviously nice to get my first goals for England, they have been a long time coming,” he said. “I probably wouldn’t have had a shot for the second one if I hadn’t already scored, but after I’d scored one I had more confidence.

“I have said that I need to score more goals, it is something I need to add to my game. [Frank] Lampard, [Steven] Gerrard and [Paul] Scholes have done that for England.”