Was it a debut to remember for Lingard?

It should have been. First when a raking through ball from Henderson sent him clear in the 20th minute and Lingard fluffed his first-time finish, and then 13 minutes later when he timed his run onto Daniel Sturridge’s cross to perfection only to fail to connect cleanly with his head and give Malta goalkeeper Andrew Hogg the chance to pull off a spectacular save.

But other than a fine second-half run and through ball to Walcott, the 23-year-old spent much of the match patrolling the left flank – while most of England’s play came down the right – before switching when Marcus Rashford came on.

Lingard, who has started only 38 games for Manchester United and was ignominiously hauled off by Jose Mourinho in last month’s Manchester derby, obviously has an ally in Southgate. So, while the interim manager remains in charge, he is likely to get plenty more opportunities to impress.