London, April 1: When John Stones gave the ball away to concede an equalizer, Harry Maguire was quick to reassure his England central defensive partner.
“Keep going,” Maguire recalled saying, “and we will get the win,” And so they did against Poland — with Stones redeeming himself.
It was the Manchester City defender’s header that kept a corner from Kalvin Phillips in play and reached Maguire, who volleyed into the roof of the net to seal a 2-1 victory on Wednesday.
It gave Gareth Southgate’s Group I leaders a third successive victory in a week to start qualifying for next year’s World Cup in Qatar.
Captain Harry Kane score d his 34th goal for England in the 19th minute.
But the ineffective visitors were given a route back into the game when Stones dithered in possession on the edge of the England penalty area under pressure from Jakub Moder.
Stones gave the ball away to Arkadiusz Milik who returned it to Moder to net the equalizer in the 58th minute.
It was the first shot on target faced by England in its three qualifiers and the first goal Nick Pope had conceded in his seven games in England’s goal.
But it was Pope playing the ball short to Stones that contributed to what could have been an expensiveblunder.
Gifted a leveler, Poland gradually looked more of a threat — even without the injured Robert Lewandowski.
Southgate had still made no changes to his side as the game reached the 85th minute — and it paid off thanks in part to Stones.
Hungary remains two points behind England in second place after Attila Fiola, Daniel Gazdag, Laszlo Kleinheisler and Loic Nego scored in a 4-1 win against Andorra in the pursuit of the only automatic qualification place.
Albania rose above Poland into third place after Rey Manaj and Myrto Uzuni clinched a 2-0 victory over San Marino. (AP)
