England boss Southgate praises captain Hart for putting Euro 2016 woe to bed

Gareth Southgate believes Joe Hart captaining England against Lithuania in Sunday s World Cup qualifier is just reward for the goalkeeper fighting back from his Euro 2016 nightmare.

Hart endured an error-stained tournament in France, most damagingly when he let Kolbeinn Sigthorsson s decisive goal squirm past him in the last-16 defeat to Iceland.

The 29-year-old was then dumped out of the first-team picture at Manchester City when Pep Guardiola placed Willy Caballero ahead of him in the pecking order and signed Claudio Bravo from Barcelona.

But Southgate has been impressed by Hart s form during his season-long loan with Torino in Serie A and told a news conference his stock within the squad remains high ahead of a 70th Three Lions appearance.

Joe Hart w…