England (0) 4 Rooney 48, Boskovic (o.g.) 62, Townsend 78,
Sturridge 90 (pen)
Montenegro (0) 1 Damjanovic 71
Att. 83,807
Entrance: £30
Programme: £6.00
Mileage: 160/2,407
Match Report
England’s task was almost crystal clear, two wins, over Montenegro and then in the final qualifier at Wembley against Poland would ensure that they reached the World Cup Finals in Brazil, a draw in the Poland v Ukraine game in Kharkiv would offer a slightly easier passage, but by half time at Wembley we knew that a 64th minute winner from Ukraine’s Andriy Yarmolenko had denied this route.
Montenegro arrived at Wembley still harbouring dreams of their own and having three draws in three games against England to their credit, this was never going to be a gimme.
The criticism that had surrounded England’s performance in the Ukraine when they employed an ultra-cautious game plan that yielded a priceless goalless draw had also confirmed a character type on Roy Hodgson that would not suggest a bold team selection in the first of the Wembley double-header. But bold was the selection that saw Jack Wilshere relegated to the bench along with the much safer option of James Milner in order to employ a three pronged attack in Daniel Sturridge, Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck, whilst also adding the pace of Tottenham’s Andros Townsend for a first start.
The evening had started badly, a wet Friday on the M25 always spells trouble with a capital T and this one was all that and more. Eventually the kick off was missed and six minutes had elapsed before we were in our seats.
The game reached half time with plenty of anxious faces among the England support. The goalless scoreline barely reflected the one-sided nature of the game; chances had come and gone for England thwarted by the Montenegran keeper, Vukasin Poleksic who was drafted in as the first choice goalkeeper was injured. Meanwhile, a couple of route one attacks had found England’s central defensive pairing a little wanting adding to the nervousness surrounding Wembley.
The first half had also seen a taste of what Andros Townsend is about and his direct running with the ball at his feet had been the highlight of the opening 45 minutes. Within a couple of minutes of the start of the second half, Townsend was once again terrorising his full back and his cross into the box was weakly headed clear to the feet of Welbeck whose shot was parried by Poleksic but only as far as Rooney who finished smartly under pressure. The relief around Wembley was tangible.
England fans were beginning to celebrate an important step on the road to Brazil when just after the hour mark, Branko Boskovic diverted the ball into his own net to double the home nation’s advantage. England, of course, would not be England if they didn’t conspire to do things the hard way and following a 25 yard shot from Stevan Jovetic that crashed against the crossbar the Montenegrans reduced the arrears with 18 minutes remaining when a shot from range was diverted into the net by Dejan Damjanovic. Wembley was on edge once more.
But the star of the show was about to have his final say on proceedings. Townsend ran at the defence, cutting inside to unleash a 25 yard shot that went in off a post to crown a personally glorious debut. The 22-year-old was substituted with ten minutes remaining allowing him to take the full ovation of a thankful Wembley crowd.
Sturridge was brought down in the box in the closing minute and Rooney stood aside from his penalty taking duties to allow the Liverpool striker round off the scoring and place an emphatic scoreline on the board.
The group situation had demanded that England approached this game on the front foot and cautious Roy became bold Roy and was richly rewarded. The same modus operandi needs to be taken forward to Tuesday when 20,000 Poles are going to make home turf a hostile environment for Roy’s Boys whose are one win from becoming the Boys in Brazil.
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