Hart happy with resilient England performance against France

Posted Tuesday, June 12, 2012 by Goal.com

England goalkeeper Joe Hart expressed his happiness with a resilient Three Lions performance against France.

Joleon Lescott’s first international goal put the Three Lions ahead during Monday’s Group D opener in Donetsk before Samir Nasri levelled the score for France.

Hart was happy to take the positives out of England's performance and thought that the Three Lions had been underestimated going into the tournament.

"I think we showed a resilience which you're always going to get," Hart told ITV Sport.

"You can question the team, say whatever you want, but you're always going to get belief, pride - people proud to play for their country - and quality.

"I think people forget we're England, and we're a good side. The first 25 minutes they weren't ready for us - they weren't ready for what we brought to the equation."

The 25-year-old admitted that he had simply been well-beaten by his Manchester City team-mate Nasri's equaliser.

"Samir is a clever player," Hart added. "I thought we dropped off a little bit to how we started. It's a bit hard and heavy for a lot of people.

"It beat me, simple as that. It's a good goal, we've just got to concentrate on the good performance."

Goalscorer Lescott, meanwhile, was delighted to score his first England goal on such an important stage.

"Obviously it's always nice to score, but in a competitive tournament game it's extra special," he enthused.

"They don't get more important than that to be fair, obviously it's nice to score, but on such a big occasion was great."

The defender echoed Hart's thoughts on England's performance, describing the display as "professional" despite their inferiority in the possession stakes.

"Overall [it was] a good performance, a professional performance," Lescott opined.

"I think if you look at the start of the game, the first 25 minutes, we were the better team and probably after the goal we scored we stepped back a bit and let them play but I think overall we've got to be pleased."