It wasn’t a great night for Joe Hart in Marseille but he’s not taking the blame for Russia’s equaliser anyway.
The England number one didn’t have too much to do during a 1-1 draw on the south coast of France but, when he was needed in injury time, he could only watch Vasili Berezutski’s header loop over him and into the net.
There was a nervous energy palpable on a number of occasions on Saturday night when the Manchester City stopper had the ball at his feet but, by and large, it was routine enough for him in a game that Roy Hodgson’s men dominated.
Then the goal that changed the mood of a nation building up to a grudge match with Wales. A grudge match that has suddenly becomes a crunch match.
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Hart didn’t seem too happy about the questions about the equaliser after the game at the Véledrome and, when it was put to him that it hung in the air for a long time and he could only watch it – you know, a little prompt to carry on chatting and fill the column inches – the ‘keeper had a short response.
“Yeah… that’s what happened,” he said.
Eventually, he went on but he certainly wasn’t about to laud the goalscorer or take responsibility for a freak effort.
“He got a huge jump on Danny [Rose],” Hart said. “I think even Fraser [Forster] with his arms up would’ve struggled to beat him like that. He put it over the head of all of us. If you asked him to do it again, I don’t think he could. But he did.
“It was an enjoyable team to be a part of tonight. It didn’t surprise me with how we played.
“We would love to have gotten off to a winning start but that hasn’t happened. We got a good performance and we’ll move forward and get ready for the game on Thursday.”
And that was that. No more questions.
