World Cup 2018: England's fighting spirit bodes well for next summer

Just occasionally I'll take a huge risk on a big odds-on bet. My thinking is that if something, in my mind, is certain to happen then any price you can take is still good value.

I hate the phrase "buying money", but Mayweather to beat McGregor at boxing, for instance, was one of those not to be missed opportunities to increase the size of your account balance with nil risk.

It comes with a health warning. Back last summer I put several hundred pounds at risk laying Iceland to beat England in Euro 2016 because, while I could see Roy Hodgson's side failing to beat the minnows over 90 minutes, they couldn't possibly lose, could they?

Last night's game fell in the same bracket, in my mind. Except with the bitter experience of Roy's flops still in my mind I bottled laying Slovakia at 11.50 before the start and decided not to have a bet at all.

So when Marcus Rashford gave the ball away after three minutes, Kyle Walker had already gone charging up the pitch, and Eric Dier was in the wrong place to cover the mistake, I was patting myself on the back.

I was working in the Daily Mail office last night. They were the people who came up with one of those immortal headlines when they called Steve McClaren "The Wally with the Brolly" after that infamous Euro 2008 qualifying flop against Croatia.

With 20 minutes gone it was starting to look like the headline writers were going to need to be every bit as creative about Gareth Southgate. Passes were going astray, Slovakia were keeping the ball, England were dreadful.

And then something started to change. Jordan Henderson, awful though he was on the ball, added more energy trying to get it back. Rashford switched wings and began to look more comfortable and more dangerous. Dele Alli started finding pockets of space.

Now was the time to lay Slovakia after all, with odds down to 3.20, and when a few moments later Dier got the equaliser I was patting myself on the back againand looking forward to counting my winnings.

What struck me was that the young players were willing to fight for their manager, even before Southgate said his piece in the dressing room at half time.

Nobody could call it a vintage performance. Nobody could call this a vintage group of players. They are the gold plate generation, compared to the talents of the Rooney/Beckham/Gerrard and Lampard era.

You would have to be a super optimist to think of backing them at 20.00 to win the World Cup in Russia next summer.

But when 6.40 joint favourites France are capable of only drawing 0-0 at home to Luxembourg maybe there's something to be said for a group of young players who were willing to dig in and fight and find a way instead of folding like McClaren's team did back in 2007, or like Hodgson's side did last summer.

Southgate was a rookie at international level when he got the job a year ago, but is growing into it. It takes time - Chris Coleman struggled at first with Wales but is now making good decisions and his team deserve to be 1.30 to win in Moldova tonight.

What Wembley showed was that Southgate has done the first bit of the job by getting the players right behind him. If they face an Iceland type game next summer I'll be willing to put big money at stake again.