Rooney lacked sharpness: Hodgson

Rooney failed to take a golden chance to wrap up victory in the second half, with Kamil Glik profiting from a Joe Hart mistake immediately afterwards to earn Poland a point, which even Hodgson admitted was the least it deserved.

Rooney was eventually replaced by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, having failed to find the form he produced as skipper against San Marino last week.

"A bit of both," was Hodgson's response when asked whether the reasoning behind the substitution was physical or tactical.

"There was an element of physicality because it looked as though he was tiring.

"He couldn't reproduce his excellent performance against San Marino and we wanted to get a little bit more life and energy into the central area, which [Tom] Cleverley was capable of giving us alongside [Steven] Gerrard and [Michael] Carrick, so Wayne moved wider.

"Then, when we thought he was tiring we felt it was the right moment to bring on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who gave us some fresh legs."

Poland looked equally capable of scoring in those latter stages, though. as England stumbled for the second time in its World Cup-qualifying group, its chances not helped by a deluge that forced the game to be put back by a day.

"On Monday, after the training session on the pitch, the players were looking very sharp and lively," Hodgson said. "I didn't get that impression today.

"I don't want to give the impression we were hard done by and our opponents weren't.

"But if a game is postponed it is a little bit easier if you are on home soil. We had that extra day and night in the hotel."

The positive, which cannot be dismissed, is that England did not lose and, that penalty shoot-out defeat against Italy at EURO 2012 excepted, remain unbeaten during Hodgson's 11 games in charge.

Its advantage in Group H will have disappeared by the time it next plays again as Montenegro, which is just a point behind England, faces San Marino next month.

However, England's durability is something Hodgson is convinced will stand it in good stead.

"When you are in a qualifying group, or you are with a league club, there are days when things don't always go your way," he said.

"On those days it is very important you still come away with a result.

"We would have loved to have won it but we didn't produce good enough football to do that. But we did do enough to avoid defeat and go away with a point."