Match Summary

Estonia Team

England Team

Once again, sadly, England could not give a fan-pleasing display in this, the latest fixture in their quest to reach the European Championships.  But, they did manage to win more comfortably than the score suggests and now sit proudly at the top of their table, with nine points out of nine, and I'm sure all England fans would have taken that at the start of this campaign.  Quite a lot of criticism came England's way after the San Marino game, mostly from people who think they should win every one of their games 10-0!  But the realistic fans know that is not possible, however they do crave just a little bit more from their team during these relatively easy games.  The match in Estonia was a case in point.

Roy Hodgson brought Adam Lallana into the starting line-up, and also brought back Leighton Baines and Fabian Delph, so there was plenty of energy available.  But it was Estonia who made a first break down the left that almost brought a goal.  Delph appeared to be fouled but Sergie Zenjov ran down the left cut inside and only a deflection of Gary Cahill's boot sent the ball wide for a corner.  The England players were furious that the foul had not been given, and it could have proved costly.   As it was, the England players regained their composure and began to produce their usual pattern of keeping possession by going from side to side trying to open up the home defence.  It was all a bit too pedestrian and not a lot was going forward, although in one attack, following a free-kick, Jordan Henderson saw a shot blocked.

On the quarter hour the first decent England attack saw skipper Wayne Rooney go, oh so very close.  A beautifully flighted clipped pass from Jack Wilshere found Rooney storming through the middle.  As the ball came over his right shoulder he hit it with a powerful volley.  Unfortunately the ball flew inches over the bar, but had that gone in we would have been talking about it for years!

England kept possession well but once again there was little end product, although Rooney had another chance when Baines put in one of his trademark crosses from the left.  Rooney actually missed a sitter because he decided to try and side-foot the ball with his right foot instead of blasting it with his left.  Shortly after that miss, Cahill was lucky when his touch let him down and he fouled Zenjov.  The referee decided against a yellow card for the Chelsea man.  Having said that the Estonians were not averse to a few meaty challenges themselves, that also went unpunished.

By now the play was almost continuously in the Estonia half and Rooney teed up Delph in the 23rd minute, but the shot from 20 yards flew over the crossbar.  At the other end England still had to remain on their guard to keep an eye on the nippy Estonia forwards in any breakaway, but they were few and far between and England always looked comfortable in defence.  Then on 36 minutes Lallana's cross was cut out by Sergei Pareiko but from the goalkeeper's throw out Wilshere nipped in to rob a defender and surge into the box.  As he was bundled over, Wilshere got his shot away, but it hit the side-netting.  Wilshere's passing and workrate had certainly been a feature of a dull first-half.  The only other 'highlight' before the break came when Baines was unluckily booked for a good challenge, that was ludicrous in view of some of the other challenges in the half that had gone unpunished.

Three minutes after the restart a brisk England attack was brought crashing to an end when Estonia's skipper, Ragnar Klavan, blatantly body-checked Delph as he burst through on to a Rooney pass.  Klavan had already picked up the only Estonia booking of the first half and when the referee produced a second yellow card it was swiftly followed by a red.  On 55 minutes Rooney sent the ball wide to Henderson, who had himself just been booked, and the Liverpool player sent in a dangerous cross from the right, but somehow the Estonian defenders cleared the ball.  Two minutes later a Baines free-kick clipped off the wall for a corner and then Roy Hodgson decided to make some changes.  On came Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for Delph, and then four minutes later Raheem Sterling replaced Henderson.  If England wanted to win this game then it was pretty obvious that an injection of some sort was needed to add some thrust to a powder-puff attack. 

To some extent it worked as England stepped up the pressure.  Cahill headed wide from a corner and then Oxlade-Chamberlain had a fine chance following a brilliant cross from the right by Calum Chambers.  Any sort of firm contact on the header would have given England the lead, but actually it didn't look as though Oxlade-Chamberlain made any contact.  But one sensed that the pressure was increasing and certainly the ten man home side were starting to be stretched.

On 73 minutes the breakthrough finally came.  Inevitably, perhaps, the goal came from a free-kick after Sterling was fouled on the left hand corner of the penalty box.  Rooney took the kick and managed to get the ball over the wall and then dip it past the goalkeeper's despairing dive.  It was a fine strike and a fitting reward for the virtually total domination of the visitors.

On 79 minutes Ricky Lambert replaced the subdued Danny Welbeck and England coasted to the end of the match.  Rooney shot over from one late attack and then in the third minute of added time the skipper had a superb opportunity to wrap things up.  A wonderful pass from Wilshere sent Rooney clear but as the goalkeeper came out Rooney's attempted chip shot was blocked by Pareiko.  It was a good save but Rooney should have scored.  When you look back over the past two games Rooney has probably had enough chances to reach Bobby Charlton's record goals tally.  As it is he remains one [ed:two] behind Jimmy Greaves on 43 goals [ed:42 goals].  The final action saw Rooney fire another free-kick over the bar.

If there was a complaint about this England performance then it has to be said that they must find a way to turn their total dominance into goals.  Having said that it must also be applauded that it was very much a case of 'Job Done' here in Tallinn.
   

Source Notes