Everton fullback Leighton Baines is determined to claim his first goal for England in victory in Moldova.
Remarkably, Baines’ deflected effort was England’s first goal from a free-kick since David Beckham’s strike against Ecuador at the 2006 World Cup.
Baines said: “I’ll try to claim it — it was definitely on target.
“We could have played better second half but the game was won. The main thing was to not concede a goal.
“It gets us off to a good start and the goal difference could play a part later on so it’s nice to get them on the board.
“It’s nice to get the goal but it’s not one of my more memorable ones. It took a pretty big deflection. I don’t know if you’d describe it as a Brazilian free-kick — it was more like one you’d see in the park.
“I’m chuffed with it. It was a good night all in all. A professional performance from the lads. It shows what we’re capable of. Not many teams would come here and do that.
“They had a couple of tight games against Holland and it proves we’ve got goals throughout the team.”
