Harry Kane insisted England should be proud of their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign despite a flat end to the year with a 1-1 draw in North Macedonia.

England topped their group, finishing six points ahead of Italy, to book their place in Germany with two games to spare.

Kane told Channel 4: “Difficult game, we knew it would be and it was tough against a decent side playing on a pitch that is difficult to play our style of football on.

“We went 1-0 behind against the run of play with a soft penalty. It was good to get on the pitch. It was important for us to get a goal back and a shame we couldn’t get a second.”

England equalised seconds after Kane came on as a substitute and pressured Jani Atanasov into scoring an own goal.

“I’m pretty sure it was an own goal,” he added. “If anyone was going to get a second it was us.

“We can be really proud of how the qualifying campaign has gone.”

Kyle Walker captained England from the start, with Manchester City team-mate Rico Lewis making his debut a day before his 19th birthday.

“I think after the qualifying we’ve had it was always going to be tough here but we dug in and got a point,” Walker told Channel 4.

“It’s football. It’s been a short week, two games when we’ve already qualified. It’s no excuses, we know we should be taking three points from here but it’s something to work on for the future.”

Lewis was harshly penalised for the penalty which led to North Macedonia’s opening goal.

Enis Bardhi saw his spot-kick saved by Jordan Pickford but was first to the rebound to lash his side ahead

“The man to my right has probably received an unfair decision there,” added Walker. “He deserves this cap and happy birthday for tomorrow.”

Lewis said: “Overall I’m very happy – not with the decision that went against me – but I couldn’t have dreamed of anything better. I’m not really focused on any tournaments, just on myself and what I can do to get better.”

Boss Gareth Southgate thought the penalty decision against Lewis was “really harsh”.

“He was excellent,” Southgate told Channel 4. “His composure with the ball and the way he responded to that really harsh setback, he’s a super footballer and he was excellent.”

It was not the end to the qualifying campaign Southgate wanted, but he added: “The really big results were in March against Italy and Ukraine. It meant coming here tonight was a completely different test.

“I thought that given we had already qualified and everything had been achieved the mentality of the players was excellent.

“The quality on the ball was good on a difficult pitch. Just that final pass or finish was difficult to find. But I thought there were lots of positive performances.”

England continued their unbeaten run in European Championship qualification with a 2-0 win over Malta.

The Three Lions opened the scoring in the eighth minute when Enrico Pepe put through his own goal.

Many supporters inside Wembley Stadium would have imagined a few more goals but they were made to wait till the 75th minute before they saw another when Harry Kane netted from close range to seal victory.

Elsewhere in Group C, Italy boosted their chances of making Euro 2024 with a 5-2 win over North Macedonia.

Matteo Darmian opened the scoring for the Italians before Federico Chiesa gave them a healthy advantage thanks to his brace before the interval.

But, Italy were made to sweat in the second half when Jani Atanasov scored twice to reduce the deficit to just one but Giacomo Raspadori’s strike nine minutes from time and Stephan El Shaarawy’s late fifth wrapped up the win.

In Group E, Albania qualified despite being held to a 1-1 draw by Moldova.

Albania hit the front in the 25th minute when Sokol Cikalleshi slotted home a penalty and their celebrations were put on ice when Vladislav Baboglo equalised for the home side, but the scores stayed level to send Albania through.

Czech Republic held onto the second qualifying spot as they claimed a 1-1 draw with Poland in Warsaw.

Poland looked like they would leapfrog their opponents into second when Jakub Piotrowski gave them a 1-0 lead but West Ham’s Tomas Soucek proved to be the hero – four minutes after the break – when he fired the ball home from close range to edge them further to qualification and ended Poland’s hopes.

In Group H, Denmark qualified for the group stages following a 2-1 victory over Slovenia.

Joakim Maehle put Denmark in front but Erik Janza’s strike four minutes later sent the teams level into the break.

The all important winner was scored by Thomas Delaney, who poked home from close range to send the Danes through.

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan kept their hopes of qualifying alive thanks to a 3-1 home victory over San Marino.

The hosts were expected to gain all three points and were on their way when Islam Chesnokov claimed a brace, scoring either side of the break.

For just the second time in the qualifying phase, San Marino got on the scoresheet when Simone Franciosi nodded home from close range but Kazakhstan restored their two-goal advantage thanks to Abat Aimbetov’s late penalty.

Northern Ireland were thrashed 4-0 at the hands of Finland and slumped to their seventh defeat in qualifying.