A very strong performance from England was enough to see off a brave Welsh side who continued to fight right through to the end but eventually lost by 2 goals to 0. The Welsh team gradually increased in strength as the game went on but a poor opening 15 minutes in which England scored twice proved to be too great a deficit to recover from. In truth, The Dragons lacked a cutting-edge in the absence of Gareth Bale who was unable to play due to a calf injury.
England opened the scoring after just 7 minutes when Frank Lampard scored from a penalty which sent Wayne Hennessey the wrong way. The penalty came about after a poor tackle from James Collins as he brought down Villa team-mate Ashley Young. England doubled their lead in the 15th minute with a superb piece of counter-attacking play. Ashley Young sprinted down the right to retrieve a superb pass from Glenn Johnson and sent a low cross into the feet of an unmarked Darren Bent who placed the ball in the roof of the goal. The entire first half was dominated by England who came close to making it three just before half-time when Ashley Young showed great technique by letting the ball drop before turning and volleying the ball goalwards and was unlucky to see his shot go just over the crossbar.
A mistake from Wayne Hennessey nearly gifted England a goal just after the restart when his sloppy clearance landed at the feet of Ashley Young who whipped in a cross which was a just a little too high for Wayne Rooney. Wales had their first chance in the hour mark when a poor mistake from Glen Johnson put Steve Morrison in for Wales but he was unable to get his shot away due to a superb sliding tackle from re-instated England captain John Terry. Wales started to put pressure on England and were nearly rewareded when Ramsey fired just over after a poor defensive header from John Terry. Wales manager Gary Speed made a double change after 65 minutes bringing on David Vaughan and Ched Evans for a quiet Andy King and a poor Steve Morrison. David Vaughan made an immediate impact as he prevented Ashley Cole’s pass from reaching Darren Bent who would have been through on goal.
Towards the end of the game, a Welsh fan initially targeted Ashley Cole with a laser-pen and then Jack Wislhere as he came off to be replaced by Stewart Downing after a dangerous challenge by Vaughan which resulted in a yellow card. England have since filed a complaint. Olegario Benquerenca handed out 6 yellow cards, 3 of which came in the closing 10 minutes which saw Wales starting to string together some passing moves before substitute Stewart Downing cut in from the right before firing a fizzing shot which beat Hennessey but flew just wide of the goal.
This game was a statement of intent from England with a new formation and a new style of playing. England held the ball extremely well in the midfield due to some excellent performances from Scott Parker, Jack Wislhere and Frank Lampard. However Aaron Ramsey, the youngest ever captain of Wales, has no reason to be displeased with his overall performance. He will be disapointed that his side did not get any points out of this game and that Wales remain at the bottom of Group G without a point as any hope of qualifying is rapidly disapearing.
MOM – Ashley Young
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