England Head Coach Steve McClaren couldn’t hide his disappointment at the result in Russia on Wednesday evening, but knows that there is still a long way to go in Group E before anything is decided.
The Three Lions went ahead in Moscow through Wayne Rooney in the first half, but two goals in the space of four second half minutes saw Russia edge ahead to take the three points at the Luzhniki Stadium.
McClaren remains in positive mood though, and praised the performance of his players in the game.
“I can’t fault the players, their attitude was excellent all over the pitch,” he said.
“We got the blocks in, we won the headers and we knew we would have to defend coming here.
“We did that and we looked a threat but we’ve ended up losing a game that, after 70 minutes, I never thought we’d lose.
“I’ve just seen the penalty again and it’s an absolute disgrace, as he’s outside the box.
“It wasn’t awarded by the linesman, but by the referee from quite a distance.
“Things like that turn games, as we looked quite comfortable, we’d got the goal and they were running out of ideas.”
The result now means that England will need to rely on Israel to get a result against Russia when they clash on 17 November in Tel Aviv, but McClaren is purely focusing on England’s next match against Croatia at Wembley on November 21.
“Obviously it’s out of our hands now and we have to rely on Israel to get a result against Russia next month and then we’ll take it from there,” he added.
“All we can concentrate on is keeping that spirit in the dressing room, which is still there from the recent games and we’ll keep going until the end.
“There is a lot of work to do before this group is decided, Israel is a tough place to go.
"They have a good home record and the pressure is on Russia again, as they have to go and win there and Israel will want to win at home.”