Match Report by Mike Payne

The build up to the forthcoming World Cup tournament began with this friendly against a Nigeria side who show lots of promise and improvement over other African nations.  It was to prove a tough test for England and although their first half performance was excellent, the Nigerians change of tactics after the break seemed to flummox England for a while.

The match began with a tribute to two much revered former England stars who sadly passed away recently, Ray Wilkins and World Cup winner Ray Wilson.  After the fitting tribute England kicked off and started confidently.  The match quickly developed into an encounter full of pace and end to end attacking.  Nigeria were very open at the back and England looked to exploit the gaps.  Deli Alli was first to break into that space down the left but his cross was poor and the chance was lost.  Two Nigerian defenders both went for the same ball moments later and the clash of heads looked very nasty, although both players recovered after treatment.  A free-kick to England had been awarded just prior to the clash of heads and Kieran Trippier's shot brought a full stretch save out of 19-year-old goalkeeper Francis Uzoho.  Trippier also took the resultant corner and this time he found the head of Gary Cahill and the Chelsea man scored with a superb header into the top corner.

The goal came in the seventh minute and England continued on the front foot with Alli and Raheem Sterling combining well for the latter to see his shot blocked.  It was one of several chances to fall Sterling's way, but it was John Stones who so nearly added a second goal for England, following a scramble, within seconds of that Sterling miss.  In the 13th minute Sterling had another fine chance after Alli had again put the Manchester City man through.  Sterling tried to lift the ball over the keeper, which he did,  but unfortunately the ball was also placed wide of the far post.

At this point Nigeria's defence was all at sea and with Trippier and especially Ashley Young finding lots of space down the wings it seemed only a matter of time before England added to their one goal.  In fact Sterling found Young in one attack and the Manchester United player saw his shot blocked when he seemed certain to score.  Meanwhile, England had to be alert at the back as Nigeria also attacked with pace and at times the England defenders had to react quickly.  But the chances were all falling to England and on 28 minutes a lovely piece of interplay between Alli and Trippier ended with a cross to the near post where Jesse Lingard got a touch only for the ball to strike Uzoho and bounce wide.  Immediately the same three players combined again but this time Lingard's cross was cut out by a desperate lunge from a defender.

As the pressure grew, Sterling had another chance as he beat the offside trap, but his cross was stopped by the keeper again.  A minute later and Lingard saw a shot deflected for a corner by another defensive challenge.  On 37 minutes Harry Kane hit a long ball that found Alli in the clear.  He teed up Sterling but this time he fired a shot over when he really should have done better.  England were getting in good positions but the clinical finish necessary was not forthcoming.  However, with six minutes of the half remaining England finally doubled their lead.  Eric Dire's through pass once again gave Sterling possession.  This time he laid the ball square and Kane needed no second bidding to fire in a hard low shot.  The ball flew under the keeper, who maybe should have saved it, but Kane wasn't bothered, and not for the first time this season a goalkeeper had been caught out by a Harry Kane shot!

Before the break, Nigeria finally managed a shot in anger when Victor Moses beat Kyle Walker and fired at goal, Jordan Pickford was down well though and got everything behind the shot at his near post.  The half ended without further alarm and it had been a satisfactory first 45 minutes for England.

A game of two halves?  Certainly the second half brought added problems to an England side who had largely controlled proceedings so far.  Nigeria brought on four substitutes immediately and their manager cleverly changed their tactics to mirror England's formation, and it immediately set England a puzzling question.  For the first two minutes after the restart England never touched the ball, and, in fact, the first touch after the break came when Pickford fetched the ball from the back of his net.  A lovely through ball found Odion Ighalo whose cross-shot cannoned back off the post with the goalkeeper beaten.  First to the rebound was Arsenal's Alex Iwobi, who fired home confidently from just inside the box.  England were caught cold, and worryingly, there were some bewildered 'what do we do now' expressions on the home players' faces.

The change in the Nigerian formation, and the goal, definitely lifted the visitors, but England gradually stifled the threat and the next significant moment came when Sterling was rightly booked for 'simulation', a blatant dive before any challenge came anywhere near him.  That was frustrating and after the week Sterling had had, it was the last thing anyone wanted to see from him.

However, on 62 minutes Dier could have put the result beyond doubt.  A corner came in and Dier seemingly only had to hit the target, but instead headed hopelessly wide.  After that a series of substitutions disrupted the flow of the game (why do the authorities allow so many in international friendlies?).  Danny Rose and Rueben Loftus-Cheek came on for Lingard and Young and the game slowed to a walking pace.  Poor play by Alli gave John Obinna a free shot at goal, but Pickford again saved comfortably.  Off went Kane and Sterling with Danny Welbeck and Marcus Rashford coming on as the substitutions continued, and then we had another repeat of the earlier incident when two Nigerians headed each other!  Luckily neither were seriously hurt.

After two further substitutions from Nigeria, the game meandered along, with little to excite the crowd.  England were now comfortably back in control and the Nigerian's attacking bubble had burst after their explosive start to the half.  Dier sent Welbeck away but the ball was cleared for a corner, and then Rashford shot wide with a first-time effort.  Rashford also had the final chance when yet another substitute, Fabian Delph, found him with an excellent cross, but Rashford headed over.  After that, England saw the game out with no further alarms and the satisfactory win was achieved.  We now move on to the visit of Costa Rica in a few days time for the last 'practice' match, before the important stuff begins in Russia.