If the elder statesman in Wayne Rooney who ultimately ensured England’s pristine qualifying record remains intact, then it was the new guard, encapsulated by Wilshere’s swagger and sharp shooting, which quickened the pulse.
There have been so many false dawns in his international career, so many injuries checking progress, that the midfielder’s performance here highlighted what the country has missed as much as what it can look forward to.
Roy Hodgson will hope the muggy evening in the raucous Stozice Stadium when Wilshere’s stamped his personality all over proceedings, not just with two strikes from distance but with the intelligence of his passing, represents a turning point. This was a curious mix from England, who in navigating a season unbeaten for the first time since 1990-91 contrived to make life far harder for themselves than it should have been. Given the gilt-edged chances Rooney had earlier spurned, there should have been no real expectation when the ball fell one final time with time running out of a vastly different outcome.
Yet while the cool finish dispatched beyond Samir Handanovic was out of keeping with much of what had the striker had produced before, it succeeded in propelling the country all the closer to Euro 2016.
In doing so, Rooney also moves level with Gary Lineker on 48 international goals and now lies just one behind all-time leading scorer Sir Bobby Charlton. The turkey shoot against San Marino in September will see him over the line.
Set against the three points England gleefully gleaned from a see-saw contest which pummelled the senses, where the draw with the Republic a week ago had numbed them, Rooney will hardly mind he is not already setting the standard.
Indeed, Hodgson should have departed Ljubljana more concerned about the lack of control exerted by his defence which required Wilshere to grab the game by the scruff and turn it into his team-mates’ favour.
A year to the day since England’s defensive inadequacies were exposed in the jungle of Manaus against Italy, the way in which Slovenia were able to land not one, but two, jabs brought into stark perspective all the talk of huge strides since the World Cup.
England were an utter shambles for Milivoje Novakovic’s opening goal, unravelling after Phil Jones inexplicably gifted possession with a throw-in adjacent to the host’s penalty area, and not much better for substitute Nejc Pecnik’s 84t minute header which looked set to deny Hodgson a sixth successive victory in Group E.
There is no need to wait until November’s heavyweight friendly matches before concluding there is plenty of improvement still to do.
To witness such a basic mistake from Jones result in the breakthrough rang ridiculous. Novakovic linked with Josip Ilicic and, with Fabian Delph and Kieran Gibbs drawn to the midfielder, he then slipped a return pass into acres of space with Gary Cahill playing offside and Chris Smalling deciding not to track the runner.
Had Smalling done so, he might well have caught the 36-year-old. Instead, Novakovic had all the time to pick his spot beyond the exposed Joe Hart to conjure the first goal an opposing player has scored against England in the group.
It was a nonsense England trailed at the interval given their dominance. Raheem Sterling had lifted a lob over Handanovic, but also the crossbar, to waste a glorious opening inside four minutes, before Rooney saw one shot expertly saved. Still, a sense of anxiety was building on the England bench until Wilshere took it upon himself to seize the moment and reveal himself as the most likely candidate to fill the void created by the retirements of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard.
Adam Lallana had been introduced for the injured Jones at the break, Jordan Henderson moving to right-back rather than Nathaniel Clyne being brought out, and was influential in the equaliser as a tackle from Bostjan Cesar diverted the ball to edge of the area.
A rising left-footed shot was lashed home by Wilshere who celebrated wildly, blissfully unaware he was soon to better the effort after Rooney had spurned close range openings created by Sterling and Andros Townsend.
Henderson’s pass in-field was touched by Lallana into the path of Wilshere, whose swerving strike from 20-yards was even sweeter and fizzed beyond Handanovic in a blur. The moment should have signalled the visitors closing the game out. Yet Bojan Jokic was allowed to cross too easily from the left and Pecnik then out-jumped Gibbs to beat Hart.
That the celebrations had barely died down when Jokic inadvertently registered another assist, this time unwanted, when diverting a pass intended for substitute Theo Walcott into Rooney’s path allowed England to wriggle off the hook.
Thanks in no small part to Wilshere, their record remains perfect.
