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MOTD- England 4-1 Montenegro

By on October 11, 2013
A superb match from Andros Townsend sent England inches away from qualifying for the World Cup

A superb match from Andros Townsend sent England inches away from qualifying for the World Cup

It all goes down to Poland.  Yes, if England can beat Poland, they have made it to the World Cup next summer. Considering rivals Ukraine, who sit one point behind England in Group H, play San Marino in their final qualifier, England must beat Poland or risk crashing out in the playoffs.  But, considering all it took to narrow it down to just Poland was beating Montenegro, it might have easily seemed like it was just Poland standing in the way before tonight’s match.

Yet English nerves were rapidly jingling before the match, but the Three Lions were wrong to fret.  Roy Hodgson’s men blew bast Montenegro, with a stunning second half performance rewarding the home side with four goals.  England also began the match dominantly, keeping possession and pressuring Montenegro.

Although Danny Welbekc wasted a hat-full of half-chances in the opening minutes England only created their first real chance in the seventeenth minute when Frank Lampard squared it from the wing to Steven Gerard, who blasted a first-time effort over the bar.  Yet England kept pushing forward, and almost found a reward in the thirty-third minute.  Gerard slammed a long range effort towards goal, and Vukasin Poleksic barely managed to tip the bouncing save wide to his left.  Andros Townsend nearly put England in front five minutes later when he cut in from the right and unleashed a vicious low shot, and although Poleksic managed to parry it the rebound fell to Wayne Rooney, who curled it wide from a tight angle.

Despite their dominance England only grabbed the lead as the match rolled on to the second half, with Hodgson’s side opening the scoring in the forty-ninth minute.  Townsend romped down the right before curling a cross into the box, which a Montenegro defender headed away to Welbeck on the edge of the box.  The Manchester United forward curled a shot straight at Poleksic from the edge of the box, yet Rooney pounced on the rebound and tapped it into the back of the net from five yards.

As England found their groove they doubled their lead, with Branko Boskovic slicing Welbeck’s low cross from the right into the back of his own net via a mistimed clearance.  But Montenegro mustered up a harsh response, sending Stefan Jovetic’s long-range screamer onto the crossbar before scoring their first goal of the match.  Dejan Damjanovic stuck a leg out to redirect Fatis Betiraj’s low effort from twenty-yards out into the bottom corner of the net, yet the Eastern European nation found the match out to bed by Townsend in the seventy-eighth minute.  The young wing-back recived the ball forty-yards out from goal before sprinting at the Montenegro defense, and after muscling by two defenders Townsend drove a fierce shot into the back of the net via the post from twenty-yards.

Welbeck put the icing on the cake in the ninety-second minute when Ivan Kecovic brought down Daniel Sturridge on the right side of the Montenegro eighteen yard box, resulting in a penalty.  Although Welbeck struck the spot kick poorly, he sent Poleksic the wrong way as the ball bobbled into the back of the net.  The final whistle blew only moments later, setting England up for an exciting battle with Poland on Tuesday.Man of the Match: Andros Townsend

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.