GARETH SOUTHGATE claims England’s response to adversity in tonight’s 3-3 draw with Germany will stand them in good stead when they head to the World Cup finals in Qatar.

England’s final outing before their Group B opener with Iran proved to be a topsy-turvy affair, with Ilkay Gundogan and Kai Havertz firing Germany into a two-goal lead after errors from Harry Maguire.

Southgate’s side hit back with three goals in the space of 11 minutes from Luke Shaw, Mason Mount and Harry Kane, only for Nick Pope’s goalkeeping equaliser to enable Havertz to equalise with three minutes left.

England failed to win any of their six Nations League matches as they were relegated from the top tier, but as he looks ahead to November’s World Cup opener, Southgate was quick to praise his side’s refusal to crumble when their backs were to the wall.

“As a group, they have really come together this week,” said the England boss. “It has been a tough period for the team, but they have grown.

“To an extent, we are always going to face pressure, so we need to be exposed to pressure. We played a friendly against Ivory Coast in March and they went down to ten men, and it became a non-event and we learnt nothing.

“This week, we’ve learnt a huge amount. They’ve had to step forward and come together – it will benefit us in the long run.”

Pope was making his second start in a week in the absence of the injured Jordan Pickford, but on a nervy evening in which his discomfort with the ball at his feet was alarmingly apparent, the Newcastle United goalkeeper suffered a moment to forget with three minutes remaining.

He failed to hold on to Serge Gnabry’s routine long-range strike, enabling Havertz to claim his second goal of the evening as he stabbed home the rebound.

“It is an error, and of course he’s going to be down,” said Southgate. “But the team has to be together and we have done that all week.

“Tonight, in the end, a couple of errors have cost us the goals, but I’ll focus on the fact they played with tremendous spirit and showed a belief that we haven’t shown in the last few games. I thought the crowd saw that and rose to that.”