England 3 Scotland 2

Match 15/13/1042 - Wednesday, 14th August 2013 - International

England (1) 3 Walcott 29, Wellbeck 53, Lambert 70
Scotland (1) 2 Morrison 11, Miller 49
Att. 80,485

Entrance: £40
Programme: £6
Mileage: 100/1,126

Match Report

As much as I looked forward to the first England v Scotland game since 1999, there was an apprehension that it could be a night when trouble was never going to be far away and the football would end up as a sideshow, I need not have worried.

The Tartan Army were magnificent and they brought out the best in England's support. Wembley has so often resembled a funeral parlour and the England team has done little to engender an atmosphere, but this meeting of the Auld Enemy created an electric atmosphere and, on the pitch, a cracking match ensued.

Scotland came to Wembley as underdogs but played their part in a game that produced the ultimate Roy of the Rovers story as England twice behind, finally put the game to bed with a Ricky Lambert winner with 20 minutes remaining.

Officially there were 20,000 Scots inside Wembley, but almost without doubt, many of the general sale tickets had fallen into the hands of the tartan hordes and some estimates were that they made up half of the 80,000 crowd.

The walk to Wembley passed an area where a couple of pubs are usually the domain of England fans but the Scots were heavy in evidence. There was plenty of alcohol being consumed but the mood was jovial and not in the least threatening. As we approached the stadium concourse, it became apparent that there was a line that wasn't to be crossed with alcohol being consumed and it was amusing to watch the Scottish women pulling rank with their menfolk and ordering the consumption or the disposal of their cans.

Our seats were an experiment, having enjoyed the view from the lower tier behind the goal at the FA Vase Final, we decided to give them a go for an England match. At first we thought we had struck lucky, but once the game started and nobody sat down in front of us, we became aware that we were in for a night on our feet, something that happened the last time Scotland came to Wembley in 1999.

What we lost in the comfort of sitting in our seats we gained in being in the thick of the atmosphere. Much as the England fans tried to drown out Flower of Scotland, the anthem came through load and clear and once God Save The Queen received similar treatment the scene was set for 90 minutes of passionate support.

First to celebrate were the Tartan Army as Joe Hart made a complete hash of a shot from James Morrison. A combination of Danny Wellbeck and Theo Walcott failed to clear the ball to safety and the 20 yard shot from the West Bromwich Albion striker went through the hands of the England goalkeeper.

After 29 minutes in which the tackles belied any notion that this was a friendly, a wonderful pass from Tom Cleverley sent Walcott through on goal cutting in from the right hand side. The Arsenal winger turned inside to create a better angle and scored between Allan McGregor and his near post to very briefly silence the Scottish support.

The half-time break saw the pre-ordained departure of Jack Wilshere, whilst on the night he, as with Wayne Rooney, looked a little rusty, there is no doubt that the future of England's midfield is in Wilshere's hands.

Four minutes into the second half and the Scots were roaring once more and with good reason. Kenny Miller, who at 34 years of age, now plies his trade in the MLS with the Vancouver Whitecaps, received the ball with his back to goal on the edge of the box with Gary Cahill for close company. A dummy to his right and a turn to the left opened a yard of space and a crisp shot into the bottom corner gave Hart no chance.

The Scots joy was to last just four minutes. A Steven Gerrard free kick cleared the head of Russell Martin but found Wellbeck, who scored with a firm header into the bottom corner.

When Kyle Walker hacked down James Forrest, a minor fracas ensued, just to emphasise the "this is no friendly" point.

With the clock on 67 minutes, three minutes of a Roy of the Rovers storyline were created. Ricky Lambert, the journeyman striker that had once put the lids on jars of beetroot before leading the line at Macclesfield, Stockport County, Rochdale and Bristol Rovers, was given his first England appearance at the expense of Rooney. Two minutes later, with his first touch in international football, he rose the highest to meet a Leighton Baines corner and thunder a header into the net. Among previous scoring debutants, Nat Lofthouse would have been proud of the bullet header, but even the Lion of Vienna took longer than a couple of minutes.

Scotland were now broken on the field, substitutions led to them losing their shape, but whilst they now struggled to contain England, Flower of Scotland still reverberated around the stadium.

Lambert went on to waste a couple of chances in the closing minutes to prove that Roy of the Rovers stories really do belong in a comic book, hitting the post and tamely shooting straight at McGregor.

But the night belonged to Lambert, England took the spoils, but most of all this grand old fixture was the winner. This game brought back some memories that I didn't particularly want to revisit, but replaced them with a game to put alongside the Euro 96 fixture and place the unlikely character of Ricky Lambert alongside that of Paul Gascoigne.

A return fixture at Hampden Park? Bring it on!