Roy Hodgson can't wait to give Tottenham star chance to shine from start for England

So far, the trio of competitive games that Kane has played for England have all been from the bench. Incredibly, he has scored in each of them - three goals in just 64 minutes of match action.

That includes two in his two games this season - against San Marino and Switzerland - despite suffering something of a drought in a Tottenham shirt.

Hodgson, however, was there when that ended with a freakish opportunistic strike against Manchester City, punching the air in delight in the White Hart Lane director's box when the ball looped under the bar.

Yesterday he was leaving nobody under any illusions - Wayne Rooney's unfortunate injury on a night when he is to be honoured for his 50th England goal will give Kane an extended chance to bag a few more of his own. Indeed, there was almost an avuncular pride in the way he said it.

"Last year he was fantastic. This season he's helped the team do well and, for us, training with him the last few days, you can see he's a top class performer.

"I think he's not scared to turn and try and run you. He has attributes as a finisher - left foot, right foot, good with his head... so he's got half a chance. Physically he's strong, he can be a target man, he can turn and try and run you, take you on. He's an exciting player, still young, still developing."

Consequently, in the kindest possible way, Rooney's absence this week is something of a blessing to Hodgson, who sees this as the last hurrah of qualifying before the serious business of preparing for the European Championships begins in earnest.

"If Wayne's going to miss anything, I'd prefer to be without him in these games rather than in November for the friendlies," Hodgson said.

"We've got an awful lot of work to do, playing together to do, against good quality opposition who will test us out to the ultimate extent. Will maybe bring out some flaws in our game that we don't always see in some of the games we play. But we're ready for that.

"We're not deluding ourselves. We can be rightly proud of the achievements since the World Cup. We don't need to hide our light under the bush in that respect, but we know there are big games ahead."

All of which puts a spotlight on Michael Carrick while Jack Wilshere is injured. Hodgson makes no bones about knowing most of his preferred team given a clear run of injuries at the finals, but feels he owes Carrick one last chance to kick-start his stop-start England career.

"In the absence of Jack I'd like to see Michael doing the job," said Hodgson. "We believe he can. We would like to see him play, which is why I didn't ask him to train today."