GOOD JOB ... Roy Hodgson deserves credit for England's performance

ALL things considered, Roy Hodgson should take a bow.

After the injuries, the Rio Ferdinand business, no Wayne Rooney and with less than a month to get his team together, the boy done well.

 He even had the guts not to take the easy option and play Stewart Downing — instead going for the future in the shape of 18-year-old Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

 If Fabio Capello had been in charge, some of his media supporters would have been hailing it as a tactical triumph against a France team now unbeaten in 22 matches.

 Sure, we’ll never win Euro 2012 performing like this.

 Hodgson’s team were comprehensively outplayed at times, the match stats revealing 15 French attempts on target and just one from England. France also won the possession battle 60-40.

 But it was still a patched-up, ragtag and bobtail army that Hodgson had to send out to ensure he didn’t get off to the worst possible start in his first competitive match as England boss.

 Sure, England also had to withstand a late battering.

 But that was hardly surprising with Scott Parker off and skipper Steven Gerrard having already covered enough ground to have taken him the 850 miles back to Krakow.

 The midfield pair were immense, Gerrard back in defence one minute, storming upfield the next.

And you lost count of the times the selfless Parker got his body in between the ball and the goal.

 One effort from Florent Malouda almost earned Parker a position with the papal castrati singers after catching him amidships.

 And well done to Oxlade-Chamberlain, the second-youngest Englishman after Rooney to play in the Euros.

 It’s not easy coming into tournaments with so much pressure on you.

 But the Arsenal winger didn’t hide, had a crack at the French defence and will benefit enormously from this outing.

 Sure, the outcome could have been worse — Joe Hart made a stunning first-half save from a Philippe Mexes header and Yohan Cabaye saw an 80th-minute shot heading for the back of the net take a late deflection off Joleon Lescott.

 But then it could have been better — James Milner spurning an early chance as he drove into the side-netting.

 No, the England players will not be celebrating, especially after committing the cardinal sin of falling back deep in defence as soon as they took the lead.

 But, as Gerrard ordered on the eve of battle, they won’t be cutting their wrists either.

 Everyone would have taken a draw before the game against a French outfit with quality forwards like Karim Benzema, Franck Ribery and Samir Nasri.

 The most important thing, though, was not to lose.

 We know the players Hodgson was missing, we know the worrying slimness of the squad and we know the expectation levels.

 After so many years of gung-ho drum-banging, our default mode is now pessimism — and no bad thing.

 That is why we can look at this result as progress.

 In November 2010, France came to Wembley and gave England a lesson in technique, style and ball retention as they won 2-1.

 Not surprisingly, we all feared the worst here in Ukraine last night.

 Especially when Nasri came out for the warm-up with a ball at his feet — and proceeded to keep it up 34 times, twice each with either shoulder. England ran out without a ball in sight.

 Then goalkeeping coach Ray Clemence, his face wreathed in agony, was carried off with a damaged knee.

 Uh-oh. It’s going to be one of those nights.

 And then we got down to the serious stuff.

 Oxlade-Chamberlain gave the ball away, Glen Johnson was caught hopelessly out of position, Hart dropped the ball at a corner and Parker bought an enormous dummy from Ribery. All within the opening few minutes. It wasn’t the greatest of starts.

 And then England started to play rather well.

 Ashley Young’s quick brain and nimble feet set up Milner for that wonderful 15th-minute chance, the Ox was beating men down the middle, the defence looked comfortable and we wondered why we had all been so worried about the French.

 Just got two legs and a head like the rest of us. And no Zinedine Zidane, the man who pulled the fat out of the fire for Les Bleus in that first match at Euro 2004.

 And, hey, hadn’t France just won one group match at a major tournament since losing a World Cup quarter-final in 2006?

 So, their confidence growing, England moved into the lead on the half-hour when Lescott headed home Gerrard’s free-kick. And we thought we were on our way.

 Except we weren’t. England started doing that infuriating dropping-back-and-defending-deep business they always do when they take the lead. France should have equalised through Alou Diarra but were level anyway within nine minutes when Nasri fired home from the edge of the box.

 France always looked capable of nicking it in the second half, like they did at the death eight years ago in Lisbon.

 That they didn’t is a tribute to England’s tenacity and an increasingly resilient defence.

 And the efforts of a new boss who couldn’t have experienced a more unsettling first few weeks in the job.

 Now, though, they will have to step it up against Sweden and Ukraine if they want to get out of the group.