The Toney effect influenced both England goals. In the build-up to Bellingham's unforgettable bicycle kick, he blocked Slovakian centre-back Norbert Gyomber, creating the space for the No 10 to execute his coup de theatre. And with the opponents' defiance finally faltering, he produced the perfect assist, with a looping header into the box that emboldened Harry Kane to burst forward into the box and claim the winner.

If nothing else, it was a compelling illustration of how this side could, even as a murderous post-mortem awaited them, find a way to haul themselves off the canvas.

But hold fire, perhaps, on any suggestions of tactical genius. The brutal reality was that until Toney's inexplicably late arrival, Southgate's substitution strategy had been so perverse as to double as a resignation letter. After a first 45 minutes of unbroken haplessness, a half-time rearrangement was not so much needed as mandated. With Kane drifting into anonymity, the early touchline warm-ups for Toney, Anthony Gordon and Cole Palmer offered reassurance that England, surely, were about to reshuffle the pack.

How easy it was to be fooled. Never mind pulling a rabbit out of a hat, Southgate decided not even to bother with any magic act. Even with overwhelming evidence that England were reverting to the listless, torpid mode that had defined them all tournament, he left everything as it was, oblivious to the discontent in the stands at the constant sideways movement. Extraordinarily, Slovakia manager Francesco Calzona, with the luxury of being in the ascendant, made three replacements of his own before Southgate made one.

In the end, with fans' derision impossible to ignore, Southgate turned to Palmer for a spark. It arrived in bursts, with the Chelsea winger bustling and boisterous as ever on the right, but it was not enough. Eberechi Eze? He was a revelation when he came on, but he could not solve the code. It fell to Toney, with a cautious manager's professional obituaries already being penned, to provide the missing link. But if you thought he was about to offer some paean to his manager for keeping faith with him, you were mistaken.