England win over Romania marred as fans once again boo players taking the knee
England have beaten Romania in the final friendly before this summer's European Football Championship - but the game has once again been overshadowed by a minority of fans booing players taking the knee.
Marcus Rashford put England ahead with a penalty in the 68th minute won by Jack Grealish, with that slender lead proving just enough for a win.
Jordan Henderson, who came on at half-time for his first appearance since February 20, missed a penalty around ten minutes later.
Romania, 39 places below England in the Fifa rankings, caused much more of a nuisance than many had expected and almost leveled in the 74th minute, but for an exceptional save by West Bromwich keeper Sam Johnstone.
In other European friendlies Scotland beat Luxembourg 1-0, while Wales drew 0-0 to Albania on Saturday.
Despite England's win at Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium, fans booing will come as a disappointment to manager Gareth Southgate, who says his side is determined “more than ever” to take the knee.
Rashford insisted his side believe taking the knee is the right thing to do, despite some boos coming from the home support ahead of the match.
“It is something we cannot control,” he said on ITV. “For us it is the right thing to do so we are going to continue to do it.”
Ahead of the game manager Southgate spoke passionately to the media about why he believes fans should respect players taking the knee.
He was speaking after England vs Austria on Wednesday - the first game in front of fans in 18 months - which was marred by a pocket of the crowd who jeered players taking the knee.
Ahead of the Romania match, he said: “The first thing is we are collectively really disappointed it happened.
“Some people decide to boo – I think those people should put themselves in the shoes of those young players and how that must feel, and if that was their children, how would they feel about their kids being in that sort of situation.
“The most important thing for our players is to know that we are totally united on it, we’re totally committed to supporting each other, supporting the team.
“We feel more than ever determined to take the knee through this tournament. We accept there might be an adverse reaction, and we’re just going to ignore that and move forward."