Ashley Young gets drab England off the hook against Wales

England met a side who were supposed to be far removed from them, yet these teams could have been locked together. The Wales substitute Robert Earnshaw missed the target entirely when he ought to have equalised from close range in the 76th minute after a free-kick had been knocked back to him by Darcy Blake. England’s goal from Ashley Young was therefore the winner that keeps the side on track to edge out Montenegro in the Euro 2012 qualifiers.

England were placid for much of the first half but probably understood that superior ability would tell sooner or later. It did so in the 35th minute when Stewart Downing went past Joe Ledley on the right and cut the ball back for Young to score with a low shot at the near post.

The move was effective in its plainness and Fabio Capello’s team had perhaps been patient rather than listless until then because they were sure their superior technique would tell.

The outlook of the visitors was entirely different. Failure brought a type of liberation to Wales. They arrived with nothing to play for and a great deal to enjoy. Gary Speed’s team were generally the brighter side before the interval, relishing each pass that took them to the England penalty area. Indeed it was as well for the hosts then that an attacker with Craig Bellamy’s edge was suspended.

England were relatively subdued and that was odd when the need for full points was marked if Montenegro’s prospects of winning the group were not to be revived. Capello obviously did not suppose that gambles had to be taken. Theo Walcott was not even on the bench, despite the fact that his hamstring strain is said to be slight. Scott Parker was demoted to the bench, with Tottenham Hotspur’s new signing a booking away from missing the game in Skopje.

Following the win over Bulgaria, James Milner and Frank Lampard came into the starting XI. The latter was a focus for discussion when he was limited to 10 minutes’ involvement when he came off the bench last week. If there was any notion that he could hone the shooting technique left to rust in Sofia it would have been born of the starkness of Wales’s weakness.

It would be patronising to pretend that a great rivalry had resumed. Wales, with its small population, has never had the means to challenge England regularly. There have been great players but seldom a depth of footballers equipped to keep the side to the fore for long. England had won 65 of the 100 encounters before this occasion and lost just 14 times.

Capello, like every other manager, has to work hard in the effort to ensure intensity from his squad on a low-key occasion. It must have been with a sense of relief that he highlighted the sometimes devastating impact that the Wales midfielder Gareth Bale can have. Even so, the manager would have assumed that the points could be collected without fuss.

This should be an ideal moment. His players have had some match practice but they are still bright-eyed since the opening of the Champions League proper is still a week away. Calculations of that sort would only rile members of the Wales squad whose schedule will be somewhat different. Speed’s charges were entitled to an enhanced sense of their worth, having just outdone England by defeating Montenegro at home. Capello’s side had been held to a goalless draw by those opponents at Wembley, yet it has not seemed so ruinous a result.

The England manager would surely have used the interval to remind his men that the one-goal advantage was too small a lead to be trusted. Wales, indeed, continued to be stimulated by the occasion. Capello, for his part, could at least be glad that the reserves of energy are greater now that some younger players are prominently featured.

Yet there was no cause for Wales to quake and it was England who looked alarmed when a move ended with the right-back, Chris Smalling, conceding a corner. The home crowd jeered when Bale twisted and battled before using space he had made to fire high but there would have been a trace of relief in the derision since the potential danger was clear.

England seemed to respond and in the 61st minute Barry set up Lampard for an attempt that went over the bar. The Chelsea midfielder would have wished to reassert himself before his replacement by Parker a dozen minutes later, but Wales would not behave as if they were members of his retinue. When England next had an opening, the centre-half Gary Cahill wheeled and connected inexpertly to loft the ball over.

Capello was in no hurry to turn to his substitutes, perhaps indicating that forwards such as Jermain Defoe and Andy Carroll do not convince him completely. The manager might also have reckoned that there was too little of the adroitness that had led to the England goal.

It would have been clear to Capello, as well, that Wales were showing that a fixture with historic overtones can still be a genuine contest.

(The Guardian )