On a wet Friday night in Podgorica, England managed to claim the point they required to qualify for the Euro 2012 competition in Poland and the Ukraine next summer.  There will almost certainly be an amount of negativity about the performance from the media and the pundits but forget all of that.  England are through, comfortably as it happens, and once again they have won their group to qualify.

Fabio Capello brought in Phil Jones at right-back for his full England debut, following on from his great form for Manchester United since signing in the summer.  Other than that the team was much as expected.

England made a very bright start to the game and they were determined to force their hosts back and apply some of the fast, attacking play we have seen in recent away performances.  Indeed, this bright opening was rewarded when England took a deserved lead after just 11 minutes.  Wayne Rooney picked up possession and sent Theo Walcott speeding down the right wing.  One of the regular criticisms of Walcott has been that his final ball is never quite as it should be, but on this occasion it was perfect.  He spotted Ashley Young at the far post and crossed for the Manchester United player to continue his impressive goalscoring form of late with a simple close range header.

England's speed of feet and thought was giving the Montenegro defenders lots of problems, and in the middle Scott Parker and Gareth Barry combined effectively to dominate the midfield battle.  Rooney was playing well as a link man and the forwards looked sharp and eager.  Young was especially lively and it came as no real surprise when England delighted their travelling fans with a second goal after 31 minutes.  This time a fine pass from Rooney sent Young through on the inside-left channel, and again a perfect cross gave another easy goal for the inrushing Darren Bent.  It was a simple tap-in for the Aston Villa player and he, like Young, seems to have the knack at present of scoring for his country.

So, just over half an hour gone and England in total command, the next target was to reach half-time unscathed.  Up until the 44th minute that seemed a formality but a momentary lapse in concentration suddenly gave Montenegro the lifeline they barely deserved.  And there was a touch of good fortune in their goal too as Elsad Zverotic's shot took a wicked deflection off of Gary Cahill's boot, to wrong-foot Joe Hart.  It was so annoying, because it gave the home team and their fans a lift, just when they were resigned to defeat.  The England players looked annoyed with themselves as they trooped off at the break with John Terry particularly angry at not closing Zverotic down quicker in the build up to the goal.

The second half began with Hart saving low down from Fatos Beciraj and then England's hearts were in their mouths when Steven Jovetic went down following a clumsy challenge from Jones.  The referee waved play on, much to the disgust of the home fans and to the relief of the travelling army.  Jovetic then screwed another shot wide before Young limped off with a knee injury to be replaced by Stewart Downing.  This did help from a defensive point of view and as England soaked up the increasing pressure from Montenegro it looked as though the three points would come back here.

But England are famous for making things just a little bit more difficult for themselves than they have to, and on 73 minutes the situation took a turn for the worse.  England's talisman Rooney suddenly decided that he should kick out at Miodrag Dzudovic.  As is normal with many continental footballers, Dzudovic made the most of this stupid act by the brainless Rooney, and the referee had no option but to send the United player off.  He now faces a minimum one match ban at the start of the tournament next summer and possibly more.  I hope he had a good explanation ready for his teammates when they returned to join him in the dressing rooms.  Especially as the Montenegro pressure could not be withstood and in injury time Andrija Delibasic scored to give the home side an equaliser their second half performance just about deserved.

The most annoying thing about Rooney's dismissal was in the fact that he had played well and is one of the current crop of top world stars.  There was no need for his loss of composure.  It is something he must control in the future, especially in a tournament when everyone will be out to rile him.

As expected most of the post-match headlines focused on the Rooney incident, instead of the fact that England had qualified again for a big tournament.  It has been a bumpy ride but in the main England have been in control of their destination and they deserve huge praise for getting the job done.  Now, it just needs the players and management to concentrate on being ready and able to take on Europe's best next year.  If all the players can hit top form together, and that will be the crux, there is no reason on earth why we can't win it, with or without Rooney.