England 2 Wales 1: Five things we learnt as Daniel Sturridge scores injury time winner for Three Lions
Roy Hodgson's bold substitutions helped England to a vital win in Group as Wales failed to hold on for draw
ROY HODGSON'S substitutions helped England come back from a goal down to beat Wales 2-1 in Lens.
Gareth Bale had put the Dragons into the lead before substitutes Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge both scored second-half goals to give the Three Lions a vital win in Group B.
SunSport looks at five things we learnt from Thursday afternoon's Battle of Britain...
1) BRAVE HODGSON PROACTIVE - BUT SQUAD SELECTION STILL HAMPERS
After copping a huge amount of flak for his negative changes during the opening draw with Russia, Roy Hodgson deserves a huge amount of credit for helping England win the game.
The Three Lions boss may have stuck with the same starting XI against Wales but as soon as he realised that wasn't working, he quickly changed it.
At half-time Hodgson pulled off the dreadful Raheem Sterling and the tired Harry Kane, bringing on goalscorers Daniel Sturridge and Jamie Vardy.
The reward was almost instant as Vardy scored quickly to bring England back in the game, while Daniel Sturridge scored with an excellent toe poke deep into injury time (even if Wayne Hennessey should have scored).
Hodgson also brought on teenage striker Marcus Rashford in the final quarter of the game as England chased a win and Wales held on for dear life.
England finished the game with four strikers on the pitch and picked up a much-needed win in Lens.
But the performance was not without deep flaws - as three of those strikers played out of position.
Rashford played on the left wing and Sturridge played on the right wing. Neither of them are wingers. England's record goal scorer played in midfield.
Vardy was the only player to play in his natural position.
Rooney has been impressive in midfield but too often he was too far from goal to be a real threat, while neither Rashford nor Sturridge have any guile as wingers, they are just quick.
The make-up of Hodgson's squad is so imbalanced, with five strikers and one winger, that Hodgson was really limited in what he could do to change the game.
England huffed and puffed throughout the 90 minutes but when you really look at it how many chances did they actually create?
Raheem Sterling should have scored, Jamie Vardy's goal came from a Wales defensive error and there was little else.
Wales' five-man defence packed the box and England had no creativity to get through.
England had four strikers on the pitch but no one to supply them.
2) WELCOME TO THE PARTY, JAMIE VARDY
Heading into the tournament, the Leicester City striker looked like a certain starter for England.
He'd scored 24 Premier League goals, fired the Foxes to the unlikeliest of titles and prompted Roy Hodgson to drop his preferred 4-3-3 for a diamond in three warm-up matches.
But the ever-conservative Hodgson obviously didn't like what he saw from the diamond, dropping Vardy to play 4-3-3 in the opener against Russia.
With Harry Kane clearly tired and England dropping ever deeper, it looked all set up for Vardy to come on and make an impact against Russia - but he sat on the bench.
In between the first and second games the clamour to start Vardy reached fever pitch, but Hodgson remained with his 4-3-3.
The awful performances of Sterling and Kane soon ended that - Vardy coming on at half-time, along with Daniel Sturridge.
A goal down Hodgson had to be proactive and it didn't take long for the former non-League star to make his mark.
Three touches and 11 minutes in fact for Vardy to score his first tournament goal.
At first sight Vardy looked offside, but it was a superb decision from the linesman to spot Wales captain Ashley Williams was the man to head it goalwards.
It was the kind of 'right place at the right time' goal that Vardy has made a habit of scoring all season.
3) GARETH BALE FREE-KICK SPECIALIST
Well, not quite.
The Real Madrid star has two goals from two games, both from free-kicks.
Is he the new David Beckham or Andrea Pirlo? Not quite.
The Welsh wizard hit the ball well on both the strikes that ended up in the goal - but he owes a massive debt of gratitude to Matus Kozacik and Joe Hart for scoring at all.
Both goalkeepers made grave errors - the Slovakia stopper for taking two steps to his left with the ball sailing to the right, and Hart for lining up a wall despite Bale being just shy of 36 yards away.
When goalkeeping luminaries Peter Schmeichel and Oliver Khan criticise you for the placement of your wall, you know you've done badly.
That's the kind of fear Bale can inspire, but Hart's terrible error cost England.
4) STERLING'S TOURNAMENT OVER?
Raheem Sterling endured a tough debut season at Manchester City.
Not once did he look like a player worth anywhere close to the £50million spent to bring him to the Etihad - there were flashes, but the fact Manuel Pellegrini only trusted him to play 90 minutes eight times in the Premeir League tells its own story.
Sterling took less than 10 minutes to remind England fans he is not up to scratch.
His first action in the game saw Joe Hart aim a long kick upfield to the winger.
Rather than bring the ball down, as one may expect a professional footballer capable, Sterling misjudged it and the ball bounced away, allowing Wales right-back Christ Gunter to clear.
Moments later Sterling had the chance to redeem himself when England broke, Adam Lallana sending over an inch perfect cross.
The ball may have bounced just in front of him but that was no excuse for a dreadful miss from Sterling - the ball hitting the heel of his foot and sailing over when he should have scored.
Sterling continued to disappoint and was off at half-time - he's unlikely to start in this tournament any time soon.
5) HOW FAR CAN WALES GO?
The Wales team is more than the sum of their parts but Chris Coleman's side has some massive deficiencies.
They lead only through a dodgy Gareth Bale free-kick and although they defended well for 92 minutes, they didn't quite have the resilience or quality to keep England out.
The back five defended well but were undone by two miscues as pressure from the Three Lions became relentless.
Ashley Williams headed straight into the path of Jamie Vardy for the equaliser, while goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey was beaten at his near post for Daniel Sturridge's winner.
Gareth Bale is obviously a player of exceptional quality but he was hardly on the ball.
The knock to Joe Ledley helped cede ground to England but the Welsh had no answer to relieve the pressure, no striker to hold the ball up and kill time.
Wales will qualify from the group but will have to be more adventurous than simply hoping to defend a one goal lead if they want to progress further.
