June 19, (THEWILL)- Goals have seemingly become hard for the Three Lions of England at the continental competition presently underway as they had to settle for a Group D stalemate against Scotland at Wembley. After a lone Raheem Sterling goal victory in their first game, a John Stones’ first-half header against the upright was as close as they came on Friday.
Yet, it was not a drab encounter by any means. Both teams defied the dreary north London weather to provide an entertaining end-to-end football that could have been a thriller were there goals to celebrate especially for the neighbouring fans.
Sterling was again in action but a bit more clinical edge to his finishing and he could have been counting two goals in two matches. Also fluffing his chances was Mason Mount, who spurned an early opening to give England the lead. Yet, the best chance of the half fell to defender Stones.
The Scottish goalkeeper, David Marshall, was well and truly beaten when an unmarked Stones, who had saved England from an early Che Adams strike, connected his head with a corner from Mount that only rattled the woodwork without finding the net.
At the other end, English keeper Jordan Pickford needed to be alert to pull off a beautiful save from a Stephen O’Donnell’s volley that was hit with ferocity and heading for the bottom-left corner. The rebound fell to Adams but his header went wide.
That was the state of play and on a goalless but driven encounter when the two sides went down the tunnel for the interval. The tie had a promise for goals with the tenor of the open play from both sides but even if it had spells of exciting promise and heart-stopping chances, the fans could have done with at least one goal.
One of those gasp-worthy moments occurred two minutes after the hour mark when a ball from Lyndon Dykes was cleared off the line by a brilliant Tyrone Mings’ intervention at the right moment.
There was better coordination by England as time wound down but the goal just seemed to desert them and while Mount had a good game, the same could not be said of Harry Kane, who was substituted in the 74th minute for Marcus Rashford.
There was a penalty shout for England 12 minutes from time when Andrew Robertson seemed to catch Sterling’s foot in the area but referee Antonio Mateu was having none of it. Yet, England very nearly stole the game in the final moments.
At the 90th minute Sterling whipped a low cross into the Scots’ penalty area which caused havoc in an ensuing melee before central midfielder John McGinn booted the ball clear right as Mount was pulling the trigger. That was the last highlight and it illustrated how a compact defense weakened the effectiveness of the English attack force to make them sweat in search of elusive goals.
The draw by Steve Clarke’s charges gives them a fighting chance to stay in the competition with hopes of qualifying from the group where Czech and England lead on four points while Croatia and Scotland only have a single point each. But, they have a mathematical chance of pulling through if results go their way in subsequent games.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
