Ivan Toney shares feelings after being left 'disgusted' by Gareth Southgate's England sub

Ivan Toney comes on for Phil Foden against Slovakia. (Image: Getty)

Ivan Toney has discussed his feelings about coming on right at the death as England trailed Slovakia. The Brentford striker replaced Phil Foden as a last throw of the dice from Gareth Southgate, and would only have had a few seconds on the pitch were it not for Jude Bellingham’s acrobatic equaliser.

As it turned out, the 28-year-old would proceed to play a major role in extra time, heading across goal to tee up Harry Kane to nod home the winner.

Southgate later admitted Toney was “disgusted” at being held back until the dying moments, but insisted the pair had since discussed the decision.

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“You put a sub on at that time then it is a last throw of the dice and he maybe does not even touch the ball, so I completely understand it,” he said. “I do not like putting a player in that position but I just had a feeling he might be able to cause the bit of chaos that happened.”

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And speaking to Josh Denzel for a live feed on the official England Instagram page, Toney described his feelings as England seemingly headed for defeat. “Well in the dying moments as a sub, you kind of think ah, it’s going to the final whistle.

“And it’s like when’s the chance going to come? But coming on as a substitute you have to be ready, You don’t know what’s going to happen and football’s a crazy game.

Toney teed up Harry Kane for the winner. (Image: Getty)

“It can change like that and it did, and going into extra time the momentum was on our side . We had the players to change the game and we did that.”

In the opening moments of the first extra period, Toney kept his composure as Eberechi Eze’s mishit volley came towards him, duly linking with Kane to complete the turnaround. And he revealed the two strikers had spoken about combining in the area during the additional 30 minutes.

“I think his striker’s instinct was to be there, in the right place at the right time. I just said (at full time), I’ll knock it back across and you be there. Then it was Harry doing what Harry does. I just knew he put everything into that, he nearly went into the net with it.”

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Toney’s appearance in Gelsenkirchen was his first of the tournament, with Kane having started all four England matches so far. The captain was hauled off during the interval in extra time, replaced by Conor Gallagher.

And after the game, Toney spoke of the necessity to stay focused despite his lack of match action. “Representing my country and coming on that stage you have to jump into it and be ready, and I think I did that,” he said.

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