John Stones left 'gutted' by Greece defeat

England’s John Stones admits he was left “absolutely gutted” by the Three Lions’ last-gasp loss against Greece.

The Manchester City defender was given the honour of captaining the team for the first time by interim head coach Lee Carsley, with regular skipper Harry Kane missing the game through injury.

And it was a night to forget for Stones and his teammates as they slipped to a 2-1 defeat in their UEFA Nations League clash, with Vangelis Pavlidis’ double either side of a Jude Bellingham equaliser securing a first-ever win for Greece against England.

“On a personal note, absolutely gutted,” said Stones after the game.

“First time with the armband, and a result like this. It’s hard to put into words to be honest after every emotion yesterday, today we prepared how we normally do and it didn’t come off so it’s just a shame it was on a night like this.

“We have got to give credit to them, from the start they put us right under pressure. We found it difficult to come out from the back, and play our normal football to break the lines. They were very compact so it was disappointing from us.”

With Kane injured, the Three Lions lined up with a new-look system in midfield and attack but Stones felt that wasn’t the reason for defeat.

“We worked on it, it’s something we know as players,” he added.

“As Lee said to us as players, we have got to deliver, put the onus on ourselves and go and do the business and we didn’t.

“We didn’t create enough clear cut chances, we didn’t get enough second balls.

“It’s a difficult night, a lot was riding on it for me personally and for the lads. We saw it as a great opportunity to top the group today, it’s not happened.

“We have got to look back on this game and move forward.”

England will be back in action on Sunday (5pm BST), when they head to Helsinki for their game with Finland.