England beat Andorra 2-0 on Saturday, with two Nottingham Forest stars helping the Three Lions secure the victory.
With Elliot Anderson securing the player of the match accolade for England, the performance of Forest star Morgan Gibbs-White slipped under the radar.
Forest star Gibbs-White was introduced as a substitute with 13 minutes of normal time to play, replacing Arsenal star Eberechi Eze for his fourth England cap.
The 25-year-old has had an indifferent start to the season, with Gibbs-White playing very poorly last weekend during a 3-0 defeat to West Ham.
However, he was actually praised by Harry Kane during this England outing, and the hope will be that he can earn a start for the national team very soon.
Morgan Gibbs-White in action for England against Senegal.
Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images
What Harry Kane did to Morgan Gibbs-White during England win
Kane is still very much considered England’s main man spearheading the attack towards glory and that is likely to remain up to the next World Cup.
He was desperate to add to his tally of goals against minnows Andorra yesterday, and Sky Sports journalist Adam Bate noticed the England man praising Gibbs-White yesterday.
He said on the Sky Sports live commentary: “Kane applauds Gibbs-White for a stepover, urging the attacking midfielders around him to keep pushing. He wants that goal.”
MORE FOREST STORIES
Gibbs-White will hope for more minutes against Serbia
The game in midweek is going to be extremely important, with Serbia the biggest challengers to England for their automatic place at next summer’s World Cup.
Gibbs-White was persuaded to stay at Forest by Evangelos Marinakis in the summer, and he will want to keep playing regularly in the team this season.
However, just like lots of players in the team, he’s now looking over his shoulder when it comes to players being hot on his tail to get a place in the team.
Gibbs-White will know that last week wasn’t good enough, and perhaps this praise from Kane will help get him back into good form when domestic football returns next weekend.