WATCH: England remain work in progress as World Cup kick-off edges closer

Get in: England's Harry Kane celebrates scoring his side's second goal against Nigeria.

WARM-UP games before a big tournament can be a notoriously unreliable gauge as to how things will pan out once the action turns serious.

England’s victory over Portugal just eight days before Euro 2016 kicked off is proof of that, Cristiano Ronaldo and his pals going on to lift the trophy a little over a month later as the Three Lions slunk off home following a humiliating exit to Iceland.

With that in mind, reading too much into the penultimate friendly for Gareth Southgate’s men ahead of the World Cup was always going to be a risk.

But, thanks to a performance of two halves from Nigeria, a Wembley crowd of 70,025 learned even less that anticipated from a victory secured by first half goals from Gary Cahill and Harry Kane other than the Three Lions remain very much a work in progress.

Going forward, there was cause for cautious optimism during a first half in which the home side looked the real deal.

With wing-backs Kieran Trippier and Ashley Young getting forward at every opportunity and the midfield belonging to England, the visitors found it so difficult to escape their own territory that Jordan Pickford was little more than an interested observer during those opening 45 minutes.

The link-up play between Raheem Sterling, Dele Alli and Kane was a joy to watch and it was no wonder that Southgate headed back down the tunnel at the interval with a broad smile on his face.

By full time, the England manager still looked the happier of the two managers. His team had won, after all.

England's Harry Kane (second right) scores his side's second goal at Wembley. Picture: Nick Potts/PA

But the ease with which Nigeria, following four changes made at the interval by Gernot Rohr along with a switch of formation, had caught England on the hop hardly boded well for the stiffer challenges that lay ahead.

Alex Iwobi pulled a goal back just two minutes after the restart to spark a wobble that better teams than the Super Eagles would surely have exploited as containment, rather than the positive mindset of the first half, became the order of the day for the hosts.

As it was, England held on. They could have even added another goal in the closing stages and Southgate, for all the problems caused by Nigeria stepping up a couple of gears, bid farewell to Wembley in a content mood.

“The first half was as good a half as we have had,” said the Three Lions chief. “There was a lot of unselfish one and two-touch play. Our play from the back had good composure.