Scotland traveled down to London Wednesday night to take on the ‘Auld enemy’ and hopefully break England hearts and ruin the FA’s 150th birthday celebrations. Scotland have not been a force at International level for some time now but a few years ago this was a great fixture, and by the sound of the crowd along with the opening few minutes it had announced its return. That said like another Scottish hero against England they would need strong minds for the 90 minutes along with their brave hearts!
Wayne Rooney, injured for Manchester United’s Community Shield game only three days ago, looked pumped and up for a full blooded battle himself. After ten minutes a weird corner set up looked to be dealt with initially but when it came out James Morrison took a touch and then launched one through a collection of bodies which kept Hart unsighted. It was not a confident Hart in the goal for that shot and it was a nervous England side outfield too.
England started to get back into the game but it really wasn’t until the 26th minute when Tom Cleverly got in behind the Scottish defense to cause some kind of problem. In the 28th minute the Scottish defense was ripped apart by a wonderful pass from Cleverly which found Walcott. The Arsenal man drove into the box then cut back before slotting past McGregor in the Scotland goal 1-1.
England then became comfortable in possession before getting a warning with only five minutes remaining of the first half. Wilshire got caught in the middle of the park and when it broke to Snodgrass the Scottish midfield man drove forward into the box. England were struggling to get back and in the end his indecision of whether to cross or shoot meant he did neither and the ball was easily turned behind by Jagielka. It was probably fair that both teams went in at 1-1.
Second half started without the wealth of changes we have come to expect. In fact just the introduction of Lampard at the expense of Wilshire for England was the only one.
Five minutes in and England were down again. Kenny Miller is certainly one of the oldest players on the pitch, and plays his football in the MLS scored a fantastic goal to Harts bottom right. Cahill had given the veteran too much space before a dip of the shoulder gave him all the space he needed.
Courtesy: Herald Online
This time Scottish lead would last even less time than in the first half and Danny Welbeck rose highest to get onto a Gerrard free kick and slotted home, 2-2 and England back in it. Now we must not forget that it is a friendly game but it is also an England – Scotland game too and to see the first yellow card issued after 56 minutes was surprising. No sooner had I thought that then Walcott got into some handbags with Snodgrass and both players were yellow carded, that’s more like it.
Chamberlain came on for Gerrard and James Milner came on for Cleverly. With just over twenty minutes left Ricky Lambert came on for Rooney and what an impact he had. A great header from a Baines corner and the guy so long very much under the England radar scores on his debut, 3-2.
With 15 minutes left Wilfried Zaha came on for Theo Walcott as England showed no signs of sitting on the lead. Although every time England would get the ball they instantly were met with rows of Scottish shirts, in fact just the one was left up it seemed. This meant that even when Scotland cleared their lines it would just come right back at them.
As the game wound down Jones came on for Jagielka and England would be comfortable for the remaining six minutes of normal time plus the three added at the end, England would hold on 3-2.
