Hart admits costly blunder

Joe Hart has admitted that the equaliser in England’s 1-1 draw with Poland was his fault.

Wayne Rooney headed home Steven Gerrard’s corner with half-an-hour played to give England the lead in Warsaw, after the game had been postponed due to rain on Tuesday.

However, the Manchester City keeper failed to claim a corner and was left in no-man’s-land with 20 minutes to go as Kamil Gilk nodded the Poles level.

The 25-year-old admitted that he was at fault for the goal, and revealed that the fact they limited the hosts’ other chances only added to his disappointment.

“I came, I didn’t get there, and the lad’s done a good header,” the England keeper told ITV.

“My fault – I probably should have punched it or stayed in my goal, didn’t do either and they scored.

“I’m gutted that has cost us the three points because I couldn’t see them scoring any other way.

“I think they played well today but at the same time they were knocking on the door and it weren’t going to open, and unfortunately, that was the case.”

Gerrard re-gained the captain’s armband after missing the tie with San Marino at Wembley on Friday evening, in which Wayne Rooney deputised in his position.

The Liverpool man indicated that although they held the lead for a long time, and did not produce their best display by a long way, the point should ultimately be a good one.

The midfielder said: “I think time will tell, we’ll have to see what happens at the end of the group, but it’s a decent point, but the lads are slightly disappointed.

“We know we can play better than that. Especially after taking the lead; we should have seen the game out, but it wasn’t to be and I believe this point will be a good point at the end of the day but we’ll have to wait and see.”

Roy Hodgson’s side lead their qualifying group, one point clear of Montenegro, who have a game in hand, with Poland two points below them.

The 32-year-old reiterated his bitterness at the draw, admitted their points’ total could be healthier, however he insisted that the National Stadium is a very hard place to bring three points back from.

“We’re disappointed not to take three points today, so our points tally could have been a lot better,” he continued.

“But this is a tough place to come. Before the game the conditions, the pitch; I thought they handled the pitch just slightly better than us today.

“That’s the disappointing thing, but we’re not going to grumble, (we’ll) take the point away from here because I don’t think anyone in the group will come here and take maximum points.

“It’s a tough place to come and they’re a fantastic team on the counterattack as you’ve seen tonight.”