Gareth Southgate’s four-game tenure as England’s interim manager ended in disappointment as Spain scored twice in the closing moments to snatch a draw in the Wembley friendly.
It looked as though Southgate’s hopes of landing the job on a full-time basis would be given a major boost as the hosts led 2-0 with a minute of normal time remaining in Tuesday’s friendly.
But Spanish debutant, Iago Aspas, bent in a superb goal off the inside of the left-hand post and, in the sixth minute of stoppage time, Isco squeezed a shot through the legs of substitute goalkeeper, Tom Heaton at his near post.
It was a disappointing end to what amounted to a four-game audition for Southgate, which also featured comfortable World Cup qualifying wins over Malta and Scotland either side of a frustrating 0-0 draw in Slovenia.
England’s next assignment is a friendly against Germany in March, by which point Southgate is likely to be confirmed as the man entrusted with guiding the Three Lions through the remainder of their qualification campaign and to the finals in Russia in 2018.
His cause was helped here by Adam Lallana’s early penalty – the Liverpool midfielder’s third goal in as many England appearances after his first 26 caps yielded none – although he departed the action in the 25th minute with an apparent groin injury.
Jamie Vardy’s diving header doubled the lead early in the second period, the striker breaking his 951-minute goal drought for club and country before he and his team-mates celebrated with their own version of the “mannequin challenge”.