Luke Shaw admits he had been watching England matches with a hint of regret before returning to the fold in the World Cup qualifying win in Albania.
The Manchester United left-back collected his first cap since September 2018 as the Three Lions secured a 2-0 victory to maintain a winning start to Group I.
Shaw crossed for Harry Kane to open the scoring in Tirana before Mason Mount wrapped up three points for the visitors – who next face Poland at Wembley.
The 25-year-old will be hoping to retain his place on Wednesday night and then for the upcoming European Championship after revealing he had rued his previous missed opportunities at international level.
“The last two years I have been watching the games and regretted not being able to take my chances when I had them and I’m so happy to be back,” he told ITV Sport.
“Even if I’m not playing and am just around the squad it’s still brilliant. Of course I would love to be in the Euros squad, every English player would love to.
“I am very happy to win on my first game back. Gareth (Southgate) said it before that we are really on to clean sheets at the moment and we got one.
“The pitch at times was very difficult, but we got what we wanted. Three points and job done. I am happy to be back in the fold.”
Shaw claimed an assist as Kane ended a six-game goal drought for England before going on to then hit the crossbar, with Phil Foden seeing a shot turned onto a post as the visitors left with a deserved win.
Solid performance and clean sheet on the road 🦁🦁🦁 pic.twitter.com/RpttaL2Y9u— Harry Kane (@HKane) March 28, 2021
The England captain has been in fine form for Tottenham but had gone 16 months without an international goal – and was pleased to keep plugging away to end his barren run.
“I have always said as a striker, sometimes you go through spells where everything you touch goes in and sometimes it just doesn’t go your way,” he said.
“I think I had a few off the line in that spell and an offside goal that I don’t think was offside.
“That is part of being a striker, you just have to stay focused on doing your job for the team and thankfully we did that as a team and it is great to get the three points.”
