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England began their Euro 2016 preparations with a hard-fought but not entirely convincing victory over Turkey in their first home match away from Wembley in nine years. Roy Hodgson, who has named a provisional 26-man squad for France, saw his side win the first of three warm-up matches at a sparsely-filled Etihad Stadium. The 44,866 in Manchester saw a competitive encounter, with Jamie Vardy's close-range strike sealing a 2-1 success. The friendly was far tougher than it had looked like being when the hosts raced into a third-minute lead, with Dele Alli's quick feet putting Harry Kane through to slot home, with the assistant failing to flag for a clear offside against the Tottenham striker. Fatih Terim's visitors quickly rallied, though, and raised fresh questions over England's defence by getting behind the backline and drawing out Joe Hart all too easily as Hakan Calhanoglu turned the ball home. Turkey were unfortunate not to add to their first ever goal against England at the 11th time of asking, and were made to pay as Vardy netted late on. The Leicester striker fired home from close range, with his goal meaning that a Kane penalty miss was not costly on a day when Hodgson's side rode their luck at times. Despite being without Manchester United and Liverpool players, with the exception of Jordan Henderson, the England boss was able to select a strong side. Jack Wilshere made his first international appearance since June, just his second start of the season for club or country. Vardy and Kane led the line, having managed an impressive 49 league goals between them this term, and quickly proved a nuisance, with the former centimetres away from latching on to the latter's pass after 35 seconds. England's dynamic attack soon bore fruit, though, as a quick, incisive move gave them that third-minute opener. Alli met a pass from Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling with wonderfully quick feet, directing the ball between Mehmet Topal's legs and through for Kane to coolly score. The goal should have been chalked off for offside and Turkey boss Terim pointed that out to the fourth official, seemingly showing him a replay of the incident on his phone. Ozan Tufan was denied by a timely Kyle Walker block and Cenk Tosun's near-post drive was kept out by Hart as the visitors looked to draw level, which they managed as England's defence wobbled. Volkan Sen raced in behind Danny Rose and drew out Hart, whose poor positioning was capitalised on when the ball was cut across for Calhanoglu to sweep home. It was a poor goal to concede but appeared to jolt England into life, with Wilshere cutting in from the right, darting between two players and hitting a low shot that Volkan Babacan got down well to save. Eric Dier met the returning Arsenal midfielder's corner soon after, but his powerful header hit the side-netting. Kane, who had failed with a couple of free-kicks, cut in and saw a low strike saved, then flashed an effort well wide as half-time approached. Two deflections took the sting out of an Alli attempt moments after the restart, with Kane finding the net again only to this time see it ruled out for offside. At the other end, the visitors were threatening as Tosun lost his marker to head Calhanoglu's corner wide. Besiktas striker Tosun fizzed wide after turning wonderfully on the edge of the area before another Calhanoglu corner caused problems and Rose was forced to turn it behind. Henderson was now on for Wilshere and England were playing with a two-pronged attack rather than using Vardy out wide, which looked to have paid dividends in the 72nd minute. Racing on to a through ball, the Leicester striker went down under pressure from Turkey captain Topal and referee Deniz Aytekin pointed to the spot, with Kane stepping up. But his powerful strike hit the left post and went wide. It did not cost his side as captain Gary Cahill rose to meet an 83rd-minute corner. Babacan saved, but Vardy reacted amid defensive confusion to rifle home from an acute angle. Turkey nearly salvaged a point in stoppage time, with Hart having to produce a wonderful one-handed save to deny Olcay Sahan a leveller.
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