Match-winner Adam Lallana admitted his first England goal was "a long time coming" after he sealed an injury-time victory in Slovakia.
Sam Allardyce's bow as England boss appeared to be heading toward a disappointing stalemate against 10 men in Trnava, but Lallana changed that deep in injury-time.
After Danny Rose's cutback was half-cleared, the Liverpool forward took two touches before finishing left-footed from eight yards away.
Finally, after 27 appearances, he has broke his international duck.
"That goal has been a long time coming,'' he told ITV.
"I put pressure on myself to score goals. We kept plugging away. As a unit we played brilliantly and they didn't have any chances. Of course it's a great start for Sam and the team.
"He made it clear he wanted a clean sheet and I thought we were very disciplined.
"It was going to be tough and I thought we were very disciplined today at times and as the game went on and they went down to 10 men we did create the chances. Sometimes you've just got to stick it out until the last minute and thankfully we got the goal.''
Having seen a sight predecessor Roy Hodgson spent the best part of three years waiting in vain for, Allardyce added: "We hit the post, several shots on target, some saves, then Adam scores his first goal for England in the dying seconds. It can never come better than that.''
Captain Wayne Rooney, who became his country's most capped outfield player by winning his 116th cap, told ITV: "It was frustrating but that's football. We didn't panic and that's the main thing.
"We stuck to our plan and kept our shape and tried to penetrate them in the right areas so we didn't give them too many chances and I thought we did that excellently. Thankfully Adam's got us the goals at the end to get us off to a great start. It's a very tough game and a very good three points for us.''