Gerrard Satisfied with Opening

England captain, Steven Gerrard, has admitted that he was left feeling satisfied by his side’s 1-1 draw in their opening Euro 2012 match, against France. Les Bleus were tipped to beat England in the betting on football from Bet Victor.

After taking the lead, England will have been a little frustrated not to finish with the three points. However, Gerrard claimed the mood in the camp was good, after getting a point from the in-form French.

After an impressive opening to the game, England began to fade in the second half, as the French took control of the match. Laurent Blanc’s men failed to add to their equaliser from Samir Nasri, however, with new England manager, Roy Hodgson, maintaining his unbeaten run since taking the job.

Gerrard insisted the result was not exactly what England had wanted from the match, yet he made it clear a draw that against France was a good platform on which to go into their remaining Group D matches, against Ukraine and Sweden.

"We would have been delighted with a win but, as you saw tonight, France have got fantastic players", said the midfielder. "We caused them as many problems as they caused us, so we're satisfied with the performance.

"But we said before the game that win, lose, or draw we wouldn't get carried away, and that this was just a platform. It's great to get off the mark points-wise."

Hodgson will have been able to take plenty of positives away from the game - from youngsters, Danny Welbeck and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, in attack, to John Terry and Joleon Lescott’s partnership in central defence.

It remains to be seen whether the manager will change things around, during the rest of the group campaign.

England are favourites to beat Sweden, on Friday, according to the odds for the Euros with Bet Victor.