HARRY KANE insists England can use their 3-1 defeat to Senegal on Tuesday to “learn and appreciate” the level they need to reach.

The 31-year-old got England off to a flying start when he turned home from close range in the seventh minute for his 73rd goal for his country.

However, Ismaila Sarr’s equaliser five minutes before the break shifted the momentum before second-half strikes from Habib Diarra and Cheikh Sabaly earned Senegal victory and handed Thomas Tuchel his first defeat as England boss.

England thought that they had equalised to make it 2-2 but Jude Bellingham’s effort was ruled out following a lengthy VAR check after the ball seemingly came off Levi Colwill’s arm from a set-piece.

Kane was upset with some of the officiating at the City Ground but felt defeat may not be a bad thing for a team that is trying to learn from a new boss.

He said: “It might feel a bit different but sometimes nights like tonight are not a terrible thing ... to learn and appreciate how hard it is to win against any team.

“I thought throughout the whole game the standard (of officiating) wasn’t high enough.

“It’s not an excuse but it did change the game because at 2-2 the momentum is on our side.”

Tuchel has been in charge since March and his reign began with three successive clean sheets before Tuesday’s defensive collapse.

Kane believes a range of issues have led to England’s stumbling form recently.

He added on ITV Sport: “There’s some ideas that we know are new for the guys. We have new players coming into the team that haven’t got experience at international level. There’s a mixture of things but there’s no excuses.

“We’re not going to meet again for a couple of months but we know the World Cup’s going to come round really fast so every camp is really important right now.”

Tuchel made 10 changes to the side that beat Andorra 1-0 three days previously, with Trevoh Chalobah handed his first cap and playing the full 90 minutes alongside Chelsea team-mate Colwill.

The night did not go how the 25-year-old may have wanted and he felt Senegal wanted victory more.

Chalobah said: “I just felt they maybe wanted it a bit more than us today.

“You could see the desire. We had a couple chances but when it did go 1-0 I don’t think we capitalised on that.

“It did hurt us because it’s the first game we’ve lost with the new manager and we wanted a 100 per cent streak. But we’ve just got to learn from it.”