Lescott: 'We can build on this'

Tuesday 12 June 2012

france 1 england 1 Captain Gerrard content with opening draw at Euro 2012

Joleon Lescott heads England in front

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Steve Nailor

Hugh MacDonald. Pages 2, 3

Joleon Lescott praised the resilience of Roy Hodgson's England side in opening their Euro 2012 campaign with a 1-1 draw against France in Donetsk.

Lescott put England ahead after half an hour only for his Manchester City team-mate Samir Nasri to equalise nine minutes later but England showed plenty of determination and organisational qualities to collect a vital point ahead of matches with Sweden and co-hosts Ukraine.

Lescott said: "It was a really good, collective performance. It was a really hard game to start off with.We had to be organised and you know what you get with an English team. I think we also looked good going forward and we can build on this."We had a game-plan today and we are confident going into every game. We should be confident of getting a win but our work ethic was important tonight. Scott [Parker] and Steven [Gerrard] played really well and solid, as did James [Milner] and Alex [Oxlade-Chamberlain] . No matter how we played, it was important we did not lose and it gives us a good position to get into the next game."Lescott scored his first international goal from a pinpoint free-kick by captain Steven Gerrard.He said: "It is always nice to score and this was extra special. It is the sort of goal you dream about but the delivery was of such good quality it made it easy to hit the target."Patrice Evra was disappointed at France's failure to clinch victory but defended England's tactics even though he likened them to Chelsea's Champions League performance against Barcelona.The Manchester United defender said: "We are frustrated because I think we played much better but, in the end, it is a draw. It felt like there were 15 bodies on the pitch at times and it was really difficult for us to find the space. I think they played the way Chelsea did against Barcelona."Gerrard was satisfied with his team's display: He said: "We would have been delighted with a win but as you saw tonight France have got fantastic players. We caused them as many problems as they caused us, so, all in all, we're satisfied with the performance."We said before the game that win, lose or draw we wouldn't get carried away and that this was just a platform. It's great to get off the mark, points-wise."

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Lescott: 'We can build on this'

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