Stevie Glee

Wednesday, 11/08/2010

Captain Steven Gerrard saved England from an embarrassing defeat to Hungary with a two-goal comeback.

The Three Lions went 1-0 down after a controversial own-goal after 62 minutes. Tottenham's Michael Dawson made a defensive slip and Phil Jagielka appeared to scoop the ball off the line but the referee judged it had gone over. Replays were not so certain.

But after 69 minutes Liverpool midfielder Gerrard unleashed a thunderbolt of a shot from outside of the D to bring England level. He punched the air and tried to gee-up the 72,000 Wembley crowd to get behind the team.

Just four minutes later Gerrard silenced the boo boys competely when he weaved his way through the area to slot home a classy goal and give England victory. He was substituted near the end to applause.

Earlier some members of Fabio Capello's World Cup flops were booed by the fans and even Wayne Rooney was jeered off the pitch when he was substituted in the second-half.

For the manager there were plus points to be taken from the game, especially changing his formation from a rigid 4-4-2, to a flexible 4-5-1. There were also encouraging performances from some of the England players promoted from the England Under-21s.

Man City winger Adam Johnson and Arsenal's Kieran Gibbs were impressive, as was sub Ashley Young. Bobby Zamora, at 29 the side's oldest debutant for six years, was unlucky not to see a couple of vicious strikes hit the back of the net. And keeper Joe Hart pulled off a couple of saves - including a crucial block near the end - which have probably cemented his claim to be No.1.

* Wales beat Luxembourg 5-1; the Republic of Ireland were beaten 1-0 at home to Argentina; Scotland lost 3-0 in Sweden and Northern Ireland were defeated 2-0 in Montenegro.

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