Joe Hart think that England wouldn’t have been able to keep out Leigh Griffiths’s stunning free-kick brace even if they had five Peter Crouchs in their wall.

The England goalkeeper was beaten twice by Griffiths from 25 yards within the course of an incredible three minutes at Hampden, and he has come in for criticism over his positioning for both goals.

But Hart insists that such was the quality of the Scotland hero’s strikes, he had no chance of saving them, and he congratulated the Celtic frontman on producing his two moments of magic that took his country to the brink of a famous victory.

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“I’ve seen it again and we would have needed four or five Crouchys in that wall to make a difference, and that’s not what we had,” Hart said.

“Of course, we studied his free-kicks beforehand, but you have to say well done sometimes and that was certainly the case on Saturday.

“As a goalkeeper, you set your wall up and sometimes there’s nothing you can do. He’s produced two bits of quality, they weren’t curlers, they were heavy.

“He put it over the wall and then picked up pace, and you’ve got to say well done sometimes.

“To do it twice in however many minutes it was after not really having a sniff the whole game, it was a big moment for him.

“I’m prepared for anything and at the end of the day it’s a free shot from 25 yards. We train every day, but unfortunately it was his training that paid off on the day.

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“It might have helped for the first one if the wall had jumped, but it’s coulda, shoulda, woulda. I ask my wall to jump, but not excessively because people are clever now and they go underneath.”

Hart made a point of seeking out Griffiths after the final whistle to offer his congratulations, and also to pick his brains about how he managed to outfox the keeper twice in such quick succession.

“That’s me, that’s who I am,” said Hart. “I want to win and I’ll do anything for the cause, but when the game is done, sometimes you have to say well done to someone.

“That’s my personality, hate it or love it, that’s who I am, and I wanted to congratulate him. And I wanted to talk about it because I’m interested. I’m interested in his thought process. Football interests me.”

Meanwhile, England captain Harry Kane has described his last-gasp equaliser that broke Scotland’s hearts as the greatest moment of his career so far.

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The Tottenham Hotspur striker was handed the armband for the game by manager Gareth Southgate, and he was relieved that his bow as skipper wasn’t marked by a historic defeat to Scotland.

“I would say that is probably the most special moment for me,” Kane said. “I didn’t want to lose my first game as a captain, that was for sure, and especially against Scotland.

“To be captain and score in the last minute was a very proud moment."

The new leader of the three lions had quite the job on his hands to lift his troops as he watched a comfortable lead at one-nil evaporate with just four minutes of stoppage time remaining.

But Kane says he was prepared for any situation after the England squad’s stint training with the marines in the build-up to the match.

“We managed to stay calm,” he said. “We have been away with the marines and we spoke about being ready for any situation. If things to do take a turn for the worse always be ready for that. Never drop your heads.

“When we went 2-1 down a few lads could have been on their knees or had their hands in their heads.

“But, they stuck their chests out, walked back to the centre circle and said: ‘Let’s get something from it.’

“This is a tough place to come. There was a great atmosphere. The way the game panned out it was a good point.”