ENGLAND MATCH REPORTS

Lampard 4
Beckham 76

      
1. Robinson
2. G Neville
3. Ash Cole
4. Butt
5. Ferdinand
6. Campbell
7. Beckham 83 (Hargreaves 85)
8. Lampard
9. Rooney (King 86)
10. Owen
11. Defoe (A Smith 70)
Substitutes
12. King
13. James
14. Terry
15. Hargreaves
16. J Cole
17. Wright-Phillips
18. Alan Smith

MATCH DETAILS

Match: WC Qualifier
Venue: Old Trafford
Date: 9th Oct 2004
Rankings: E7 W57
Att: 65,224
Ref: Terje Hauge (Norway)
Weather: Mild
Rating: 

MATCH STATS

11 Shots on target 1
5 Shots off target 4
6 Corners 0
16 Fouls conceded 16
4 Offsides 0
1 Yellow cards 1
0 Red cards 0
59% Possession 41%
1. Jones
2. Delaney
3. Thatcher
4. Koumas (Earnshaw 73)
5. Gabbidon
6. Pembridge 54 (Robinson 59)
7. Davies
8. Bellamy
9. Hartson
10. Speed
11. Giggs
Substitutes
12. Collins
13. Crossley
14. Fletcher
15. Robinson
16. Oster
18. Earnshaw
 
MINI REPORT
England cruised to a 2-0 win in their World Cup Qualifier against Wales at Old Trafford. Sven’s team got off to a great start scoring the opener after four minutes, Frank Lampard’s shot from outside the box hit the heel of Owen and deflected past the stranded Paul Jones in the Welsh goal. England had other chances in the first forty-five minutes with Rooney hitting a post and Owen and Defoe not making the most of good opportunities.

Wales failed to push forward looking for a equaliser and caused England little problems at the back in the second half and England should have been clear in the scoring stakes before skipper David Beckham scored a fantastic second on 76 minutes, the Real Madrid midfielder curling a fantastic effort into the top corner past Jones. England kept possession for the last fifteen minutes to kill off the game. Rooney showed glimpses of his greatness causing Wales problems every time he got the ball and was unlucky not to get on the score sheet while Owen looked bright up front.

Owen and Lampard each laid claim to the opening goal but the referee's decision was final and the goal was given to Lampard.

 

PRESS MATCH REPORTS

AFTER MATCH COMMENTS

Michael Owen claimed England's first goal against Wales in the World Cup qualifier at Old Trafford. The opening goal in England's 2-0 win was given to Frank Lampard by the referee but Owen and the Chelsea midfielder jokingly agreed to differ on who the scorer actually was.

Owen joked: "Frank is standing by me so I don't want an argument but initially I thought it just hit me and went more or less in the same path. Having seen it again it has taken quite a big deflection. Inevitably when you've gone a while without a goal you get one off your backside, you are looking for one to go your way."

"I'm very happy. The first 15-20 minutes we started like a house on fire. The diamond means we are trying to get Wayne on the ball as much as possible. The system is meant to accommodate Wayne and bring out the best in him. In the second half we stopped getting him on the ball but I think 2-0 was a bare minimum result."

Lampard took a slightly different view of the first goal. He said: "I didn't see it until half-time. I did claim it to be honest and if the ref says it's mine it's fine by me." I think both teams were up for it. We took the sting out of their play and we could have won more comfortably. I think we believed in ourselves - you could see that by the way we were playing."

England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson was happy. He said: "The three strikers worked very well. They played well, there was a very good balance in the team and we were very professional. It was not easy. Wales defended very well, they did not let our full-backs play at all. They closed all the spaces for us."

"We were professional and could have scored two or three more goals. Wales had one chance through Craig Bellamy"