TOM Heaton said he 'thoroughly enjoyed' his first start in an England shirt despite being disappointed at seeing the Three Lions beaten in France.

The Burnley captain played the first 45 minutes in Paris and although Gareth Southgate's went in 2-1 down, both of Les Blues' goals came from follow-ups from Heaton saves.

England levelled early in the second half when Harry Kane converted a penalty after Raphael Varane had been sent-off, but France won it late on Ousmane Dembele drilled past Heaton's replacement Jack Butland.

"Overall I'm disappointed given the situation of the game," Heaton said of his third cap for his country.

"We got back in it at 2-2 and they'd had a man sent-off and we were looking to capitalise but unfortunately it didn't quite happen, so it's frustrating from that point of view.

"On a personal note I was delighted to start the game and thoroughly enjoyed it out there."

Heaton made saves from Olivier Giroud and Dembele during the first half only for Samuel Umtiti and then Djibril Sidibe to pounce on the rebound.

"Sometimes you have to ride your luck a little bit," the 31-year-old told ITV. "I got after them both, I got a fingertip on the first but unfortunately it lands at the lad's feet and he slots it in and it's very similar with the second. It's a touch frustrating but it's one of those things.

"As I say we got back in the game second half after a good 10 minute spell and we were disappointed not go one from there and see the game through."

England looked like they could have taken the win in Paris when Kane levelled and the hosts were down to 10, but they couldn't take control of the game and Heaton believes they will learn a lesson from that.

"We thought with the man down we were looking to step the game on," he said. "It's probably one of the things we'll look to learn from the game, taking a little bit more control of the game, breaking them down and tiring them out.

"I didn't think we did quite as well as we would have liked, but that said they've got a lot of quality, they're one of the top teams in the world and it's where we want to be, so it's a good marker for us. There's a lot of positives from it, we're disappointed with the result and there's a lot of things to learn from but with the journey we've started here hopefully we can that forward."