National media reacts to 'lucky' Jordan Pickford incident in 5/10 England rating vs Ghana

Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was part of an England side that played out a hugely underwhelming goalless draw with Ghana.

The Three Lions were frustrated by Carlos Queiroz's men in Boston, as they received a reality check after an opening win over Croatia.

England's best chances in a drab performance arrived late on, with Harry Kane firing over the top after Nico O'Reilly had hit the woodwork.

For Pickford, it was a largely quiet evening, with Ghana mustering just one shot on target in a match where they were happy to sit deep and allow England the ball.

But there was one flashpoint late in the game where Pickford collided with Prince Adu that left hearts in the mouths of England fans.

England's national media has been rating the performance of the Three Lions players, including Pickford's nervy moment.

Jordan Pickford lucky to escape punishment in England vs Ghana

The mood among the England fanbase is probably best described as deflated.

After beating Croatia in style in their opening contest, the dour nature of the Ghana performance certainly lowered the mood a little.

For Pickford it was a quiet evening, but he will feel fortunate to have escaped punishment when he rushed out of goal and clattered into Adu.

In their player ratings, the Guardian awarded Pickford 5/10 and said of the incident: "A spectator for the first half but was very lucky to escape further punishment after bringing down Prince Adu."

It was a similar assessment in the Daily Mail, who also gave Pickford a 5/10 and wrote: "A first-half spectator as Ghana did not have a shot on goal, but got lucky when rushing from area midway through the second half and colliding with the attacker."

The Daily Mirror awarded Pickford a 6/10 but followed a similar theme, writing: "Largely a spectator because Ghana offered little going forward. Lucky when Adu messed up a break."

What Pickford said after England draw vs Ghana

While England were pretty drab, it would have been unfortunate if they had lost the game, and a draw was pretty fair.

Pickford himself was philosophical after the game, acknowledging that England are still in a good position

He told ITV Football: "We knew it was going to be tough against Ghana. We knew they would play counter-attacking football.

"They were really hard to break down, we had our chances and we had to be wary of counter attacks, but that is football and we needed to get the first goal.''

All in all, while Pickford did not have a great deal to contend with, you cannot help feel the Everton ace massively got away with one.

He will hope that there are is not a nervy moment when England round out their group-stage campaign against Panama on Saturday.