Rooney: Russia draw feels like a defeat

Wayne Rooney described England’s draw against Russia as “feeling like a defeat” following Vasili Berezutsky’s injury-time equaliser.

Rooney was arguably England’s stand-out player in a deeper, midfield role, before being taken off by Roy Hodgson after 77 minutes.

At that stage, England were 1-0 up thanks to Eric Dier’s stunning free-kick but Berezutsky’s last-gasp header denied the Three Lions a win that would have been deserved on the balance of play.

Rooney said: “[I am] disappointed not to win it obviously. I thought we played some really good stuff, created chances and controlled the game.

“We had our chances but that’s football, you’ve got to take them. We got the goal and had the game in our hands. It’s really disappointing not to win but there were a lot of positives and if we play like that we’ll be okay.

“The way we controlled the game, for such a young squad, was excellent. We had a 15-minute period where we had to settle down a bit at the start of the second half but we got through that and got the goal. The negative was the goal we conceded. It’s disappointing, it feels like a defeat at the minute but we have to take it and move on.

“Hopefully we’ll play a similar game against Wales and if we do we’ll be fine.”

Rooney felt the experiment of playing in midfield was a success with Hodgson going for a front three of Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and Adam Lallana.

“It worked well, we complemented each other’s game well. It may have been my first game for England there but I’ve played there for Manchester United and it worked well for us and the team.”

As for his substitution, Rooney refused to question Hodgson’s judgement, adding: “That’s the manager’s decision, I respect it, it’s what he gets paid to do, to make those decisions.”