Adam Lallana scored in the 95th minute of the game to give England a 1- 0 win over 10-man Slovakia
Martin Skrtel got sent off in the 57th minute for a nasty stamp on Harry Kane.
But for awhile there Allardyce looked set to become the first England manager since Bobby Robson in 1982 not to win his first game in charge.
Questions over Rooney’s performance for the team raised their ugly heads again.
Germany went to the top of Group C immediately after a 3-0 win over Norway in Oslo.
Thomas Muller was on target twice while Joshua Kimmich scored his first goal for his country .
Elsewhere Scotland mauled Malta 5 -1 .Robert Snodgrass scored a hat-trick and Malta had two players sent off
Poland squandered a 2-0 lead in a bad-tempered 2-2 draw away to Kazakhstan which saw 10 players booked.
And Denmark beat Armenia 1 – 0.Tottenham Hotspur’s Christian Eriksen was the scorer and he also later missed a penalty.
But the one goal was enough to get them up and running on the road to Russia.