Lescott: Ukraine our toughest test

Roy Hodgson's men were heading for a severely damaging Wembley defeat when Lescott needlessly gave the ball away in the build-up to Yevgen Konoplianka's goal.

But Lampard's penalty three minutes from time salvaged what Lescott and his teammates admitted could be a crucial point.

England had been top of Group H after thrashing Moldova and a loss would have seen them slump to fourth, behind Ukraine, Poland and Montenegro.

With trips to all three to come, that would have arguably left them with a real uphill battle to qualify.

It did slip to second place on goal difference but Manchester City star Lescott claimed a draw was not a bad result against a side that was unlucky to lose to England at the European championships.

"It was our toughest game, I felt, in the Euros, and they showed again what a good team they are," he said.

"There's no easy games in the group but we felt that we probably got our toughest one out of the way."

He added: "They're a good team and our biggest threat in the group also."

Unlike in Kiev in the northern summer, England did not enjoy the rub of the green, seeing a goal disallowed and several other chances go begging and Lescott admitted he began to think it was not going to be its night.

He said: "It was starting to get that way.

"But the players we've got and the determination we showed, we're always going to create chances and, luckily for us, we got a penalty and Frank put it away."

He added: "I'm sure that the manager and the fans expect nothing less from us.

"We're a determined bunch of lads and we thought we could've scored early on and obviously go on and get a victory but it just wasn't to be."