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Hart happy with resilient England performance against France
Posted Tuesday, June 12, 2012 by Goal.com

Hart happy with resilient England performance against France

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."

Standings
    Rank Team W/D/L Pts

    Cities & Stadiums

    The Top 3 Teams of Previous Tournaments

    Year Winners Runner-up Third place
    2008SpainGermanyRussia / Turkey
    2004GreecePortugalNetherlands / Czech Republic
    2000FranceItalyNetherlands / Portugal
    1996GermanyCzech RepublicFrance / England
    1992DenmarkGermanyNetherlands / Sweden
    1988NetherlandsSoviet UnionItaly / West Germany
    1984FranceSpainDenmark / Portugal
    1980West GermanyBelgiumCzechoslovakia
    1976CzechoslovakiaWest GermanyNetherlands
    1972West GermanySoviet UnionBelgium
    1968ItalyYugoslaviaEngland
    1964SpainSoviet UnionHungary
    1960Soviet UnionYugoslaviaCzechoslovakia