Roy Hodgson insists England's lacklustre 1-1 draw against Ukraine shouldn't be allowed to obscure the promise of a brighter future as his young stars helped preserve their side's unbeaten start to the World Cup qualifying campaign.

Hodgson's team were on the verge of a shock defeat at Wembley on Tuesday as they laboured to recover from Yevhen Konoplyanka's stunning first half strike.

But England finally sparked into life after Hodgson threw on Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck and Chelsea duo Daniel Sturridge and Ryan Bertrand in the second half.

The youthful trio gave the hosts more pace and energy after a painfully low-tempo first hour and it was Welbeck who won the penalty that Frank Lampard converted five minutes from full-time to salvage a point.

England ended an underwhelming night with 10 men after captain Steven Gerrard was sent off for a second booking in the closing moments and the Liverpool midfielder will be suspended for the next qualifier against San Marino in October.

But Hodgson is convinced the performances of his young substitutes show England, who were without the injured Wayne Rooney, John Terry and Ashley Cole, can cope in the absence of their top stars.

"It shows we aren't totally reliant on the old guard," he said.

"Welbeck had a good impact and Bertrand was excellent as well."

Hodgson was adamant England were worthy of at least a point, even though Ukraine often looked the more incisive outfit.

"I suppose you are relieved when you are losing 1-0 and get a late equaliser but I didn't think we did that badly," Hodgson said.

"We started very poorly in the first 10 minutes, but once we got into our stride we did well.

"We went 1-0 down to a wonder strike and of course against a good Ukraine side you are going to be up against it.

"But I was pleased with the way we kept probing and with the way our players went about the task."

After routing Group H whipping-boys Moldova 5-0 in their opening qualifier on Friday, this was a truer test of England's mettle and they hardly rose to the challenge.

But Hodgson claimed that just underlined the quality of a group where the other significant threats are likely to come from Poland and Montenegro.

"I would be surprised if people thought it would be an easy group," he said. "We played better tonight than when we beat Ukraine at Euro 2012 but we didn't win this time."