Match Summary

England Team

Scotland Team

England were off to a sluggish start when Scotland came to Wembley for this World Cup qualifier, and they were almost made to pay when James Forrest should have done better with an early chance.  Joe Hart easily saved that effort but England continued to look nervous, especially when Robert Snodgrass curled in a couple of wicked free-kicks in the first ten minutes.  Surely they would have realised that Scotland would be really up for this match, but they were slow to react to the normal Scottish front-foot start.  Gradually though, over the next ten minutes, England began to find their feet a little more.

Raheem Sterling was a livewire and when he went down in the box England appealed for a penalty but the excellent Turkish referee, quite rightly, was having none of it.  Forrest did foul Sterling outside the box shortly afterwards and Wayne Rooney's free-kick was deflected for a corner, which was cleared.  England were looking a little better by now but when they took the lead after 24 minutes, it was slightly against the general run of play.  It was a good goal though as a surging run from Danny Rose saw his shot deflected and the ball ran free to his full-back partner, Kyle Walker.  Walker fired in a terrific cross at just the right height and there was Daniel Sturridge to guide a perfect header wide of the helpless Craig Gordon in the Scottish goal.  It was a goal out of the blue, and England's first real threatening foray forward.

Scotland were stunned but they came back strongly with Leigh Griffiths seeing his shot blocked by John Stones and then, from a corner, England left Grant Hanley completely unmarked and the big central defender held his head in his hands as his awful free header sailed high over the bar.  That was a let-off for England and Hart made sure of his feelings to his fellow defenders over their lack of marking.  Three minutes later Scotland had another golden chance.  Stones thought he had been fouled but the referee waved play on and Griffiths had a clear run at goal with an unmarked Snodgrass to his left.  Unfortunately for the Scots, Griffiths took the wrong option and shot at goal, giving Hart an easy save.  Snodgrass was as angry with his teammate as Hart had been earlier with his!

Darren Fletcher shot over from 20 yards and the pressing game employed by Gordon Strachan's team was certainly putting pressure on Gary Cahill and Stones.  But as the half drew to a close it was England who created chances, first when Rose was seemingly tripped by Snodgrass in the area, again with no response from the referee, and then when a fine move down the left ended when Rooney's pass inside was just kept out by desperate Scottish defending.  Scotland had probably edged the half, but there was no finish in the final third and Hart was not stretched too often.  England, meanwhile, had tried to carry out Gareth Southgate's pre-match wish for patience and composure, but several players were a little under par.

With Scotland 1-0 down, it was pretty obvious that the visitors would come out with all guns blazing, obvious that is to everyone except the England defenders, who again made a very lackadaisical start to the half.  Forrest again had a fine chance but shot wide when he really should have found the target.  That was a warning for England and after Stones somehow blocked Snodgrass's shot from close range it seemed only a matter of time before the equaliser arrived.  The last thing the crowd expected at that point was for a second England goal, but that is exactly what happened.

Fifty minutes had gone when Sturridge found the marauding Rose down the left again and this time another fine cross came in, low and hard, and there was Adam Lallana to score with an even better header than Sturridge's earlier effort.  It was a quality goal, and how ironic that Scotland conceded again after their impressive start to the half.  The watchword was 'quality', and sadly that is what Scotland lack right now.  The reaction of their players, and indeed the manager, said it all, "How could this be happening?"

James Morrison tried to bring Scotland back after he broke clear but again the finish wasn't there, and it was noticeable how heads had dropped amongst the pink-shirted invaders from across the border.  (At this point, can I ask why England did not play in white shirts and blue shorts to Scotland's normal blue shirts and white shorts?  What was the pink all about?)

I digress, two or three bookings peppered the next ten minutes as tempers just flared a little, with Griffiths and Cahill amongst the culprits.  England were putting some good forward moves together and one of the best ended with Rooney's header being hacked away by Hanley.  Both Walker and Rose were causing Scotland problems with their exciting running down the flanks and on the hour England sealed the points.  This was a much more straightforward goal as Rooney's corner was glanced home with his head by Cahill.  From England's point of view it was a well-taken goal, but from Scotland's it was poor defending.

The game was really open by now, with England looking dangerous every time they came forward, and it was nearly 4-0 when Sturridge and Jordan Henderson combined.  Then Walker almost broke through before, on 69 minutes, Sterling missed an absolute sitter.  Great play by Henderson and Lallana saw the ball whipped across the box and somehow Sterling managed to turn the ball over the bar from one yard out!

The last 20 minutes saw England comfortably play out time without exerting themselves too much.  By now they were completely in control and Scotland had nothing left, whilst a series of substitutions did nothing to change the game.  There were some good individual displays by England although, once again, they were far from firing on all cylinders.  Lallana and the two full-backs were the pick of the side, with Rose very effective down the left.  There is still much work to do, but Gareth Southgate can certainly enjoy this win and feel satisfied with his role so far.  From Scotland's point of view, Gordon Strachan will probably rue the decision not to play Nicola Sturgeon in his attack!
   

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Mike Payne - football historian and contributor