Rickie Lambert scored with his
first touch in international football as England twice came from behind to see
off Scotland after a breathless encounter at Wembley.
The 31-year-old Southampton striker
headed home England's winner just three minutes after replacing Wayne Rooney,
to spare manager Roy Hodgson's blushes on a night when Scotland twice
threatened to cause an upset.
I have to say that was one of the
most entertaining and engaging friendlies I’ve seen in a long time, and as an
Englishman I was quite pleased, delighted, with the outcome.
Usually an August friendly just
before the season starts is usually devoid of any intent and is usually a drab
affair as all the players cruise through the game and don’t take any risks, and
then there’s the plethora of substitutions that kills what little, if any,
momentum the game had.
But credit to both teams last night
that really was a great game of football and it was great to see Rickie Lambert,
who has really come to the top level the hard way, score with his first touch,
hopefully he’ll be included in the squad for the World Cup qualifiers coming up.
I'm also joining the ever growing list of those calling
for an England-Scotland game to be played every year as the curtain raiser to
the new season, because even if there only half as good as last night it will still be something to look forward to.
Even if that doesn’t happen I certainly
hope that this game is played on a more regular basis and there isn’t a 14 year
wait for the next one.
No comments:
Post a Comment