England defender John Stones has admitted that there was a feeling of "relief" in the dressing room after the Three Lions netted late on to see off Slovakia in Trnava.

A 95th-minute effort from Adam Lallana ensured that Sam Allardyce began his reign as England boss in perfect fashion, but Stones acknowledged that the side could have opened the scoring earlier in the match after Martin Skrtel had been dismissed for two yellow cards.

The 22-year-old is quoted by The Mirror as saying: "The feeling in the dressing-room was relief. We could all see the goal coming. We were plugging away that much that I always felt we were going to create chance always felt we were going to create chances.

"We left it late and going into a game you never want to score that late but when it does happen, it's a great relief and coming off the back of the Euros to a tough place, a tough team and scoring what I thought should have been a second goal but the referee had a difficult job and we finished the job in the end."

England are next in action when they host Malta on October 8.