Ivan Toney revealed he planned the assist for Harry Kane’s winner in the last-16 clash with Slovakia in advance.
The Brentford striker was only introduced off the bench by Gareth Southgate on 94 minutes – something the manager claimed ‘disgusted’ Toney at the time.
The 28-year-old however was in the thick of the action for Jude Bellingham’s last-gasp equaliser 60 seconds later and then laid-on the winning goal 52 seconds after the start of extra time, guiding a wayward Eberechi Eze volley back across goal with his head for Kane to nod home at the far post.
90+4’ Ivan Toney comes on
90+5’ England level
91’ Assists the winnerThe Ivan Toney Effect 🦁🔥 pic.twitter.com/6kBrA5mJxk
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) June 30, 2024
Toney told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I feel like we deserved it in the end and the never-say-die attitude came through. Representing my country and coming on that stage you have to jump into it and be ready, and I think I did that.
“There is still much more to give in this squad and hopefully we can use that.”
Toney told uefa.com his instructions were: “Just put yourself about and, obviously, I feel like I could sniff an opportunity.
“I felt like it was going to drop to one of our players. Happily, it dropped to Jude and he managed to put it into the back of the net.
“I saw him have a good contact, and I saw it head towards the goal. I knew it was going in. It was just relief really.”
Toney revealed the header across goal which led to Kane’s close-range winner had been flagged in advance.
“When we go into extra time having scored the goal so late, I think it would have been a little pointless going into extra time and losing,” he said.
“Just before, I said to (Kane) that any time I get the ball at the back post, I’m going to knock it back across, and he was there to put it into the back of the net.”
