On a night billed as an audition for England’s fringe players, with only five more games before Gareth Southgate names his Euro 2024 squad, Ollie Watkins and Lewis Dunk were the two who emerged with enhanced reputations from this unconvincing 1-0 friendly win over Australia.
Watkins tapped in the winning goal just before the hour to push his claim for a role as poacher; Dunk had earlier prevented a certain goal at the other end and is emerging as a much-needed new character in central defence to partner John Stones. But elsewhere there were some fluffed lines, and perhaps Gareth Southgate’s main learning was that for all the quality in their ranks, England are not quite the same without Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and their handful of leading lights.
