England 2 Slovenia 1

The friendly international between England and Slovenia at Wembley on Saturday Sept 5, 2009.

A gift of a penalty and a deflected goal: England always seem to get lucky in the games that don’t really matter.

This was far from the imperious dismissal of inferior opposition that Fabio Capello might have craved ahead of Wednesday’s qualifier against Croatia and if he learnt anything from against a team playing in, to use his phrase, “the Yugoslavian style” it is that his side is too easily undone by sharp passing in the gap between his midfield and the back four.

After the sloppiness in Amsterdam, England’s defence again looked porous, with the ball given away and the Slovenians given plenty of chances to score. It took them 85 minutes to finally beat Robert Green but no real surprise that they did, Zlatan Ljubijankic getting in front of Joleon Lescott to head in Nejc Pecnik’s cross at the near post.

By then Frank Lampard’s penalty and substitute Jermain Defoe’s deflected shot had ensured an unconvincing victory. There is still a tetchiness in relations between some members of the team and a minority in the crowd. Old target Ashley Cole was booed by some when he got the man of the match award while there were jeers for Lescott when he came on as a sub – presumably for his perceived greed in forcing through a move to Manchester City.

The XI that started this match will almost certainly start against Croatia, despite Defoe’s claims. Aerial strength is important and England’s capacity for power play was exhibited with two successive chances after 20 minutes.

Heskey’s ability at the aerial lay-off is part of the reason he is so highly regarded by Capello and it was a typical flick that allowed Rooney to pick up the ball in the box, near the by-line, cut back in and shot low past Samir Handanovic, Slovenia’s punch-happy goalkeeper.

Unfortunately for the United striker, the covering Miso Brecko did superbly to deflected the ball over.

From the ensuing corner, whipped in by Steven Gerrard, John Terry climbed superbly between two Slovenian defenders and thumped a header against the crossbar. Those near misses certainly lifted the less than capacity crowd, who had become a little restless at England’s early sloppiness. The visitors should have taken the lead after 11 minutes when

Milivoje Novakovic was released by Robert Koren’s clever pass, but the Cologne striker scooped his shot over after going around Robert Green.

England’s growing conviction was rewarded most unexpectedly and most generously by the Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson. Steven Gerrard did well to rob Andraz Kirm on the English left and improvised with a chipped cross into the box with the outside of his right boot. Rooney and Bostjan Cesar tussled, both went down and the ball rolled to safety. Bafflingly, Eriksson pointed to the spot.

Replays showed that both players had a grip of each other’s shirt at some stage, although Rooney’s seemed to be the clearer foul.

Terry’s pre-match claim that the England team don’t dive guaranteed scrutiny of every free kick won by Capello’s team. This was no penalty but nor was it a dive on Rooney’s part – he didn’t even appeal. Frank Lampard showed no mercy, however, and converted low to the goalkeeper’s right.

With the lead, England became more fluent and should have had a second five minutes later but for Rooney’s unbelievable miss. Lampard’s corner was met by a diving Matthew Upson at the near post. The West Ham defender’s glanced header found the unmarked Rooney at the far post but, despite the gaping goal before him hit the post with his left-footed attempt to finish.

England’s efforts to find the second that killed off the game would have to wait until after the break. Gerrard hit a powerful drive too well, the late swing on the ball carrying out of the keeper’s reach but also just beyond the far post.

As threatened, Capello made a raft of substitutions at half-time, protecting the key pair of Gerrard and Lampard by sending on James Milner and Michael Carrick. Sensible stuff but perhaps the conservative tactic could have been augmented by the withdrawal of Rooney, also essential to England playing their best, and Terry, whose fitness had been in doubt before the game with a groin injury. Rooney finally came off with 10 minutes to go and Terry completed the 90.

Still, England had the better of a fairly stale second half. Rooney contrived a miss to rival his embarrassing one in the first half. Aaron Lennon, another half-time sub, scooted down the right and squared to Rooney in the six-yard box but the United striker managed to pick out the Slovenian defender on the line.

By then England were two up, though, thanks to Jermain Defoe’s lucky strike. The Tottenham striker is in sensational form for club and country and he got his seventh in six with an optimistic shot that deflected Aleksander Radosavljevic and curved into the bottom corner. Confidence breeds fortune it seems and he must surely be pushing Heskey for a starting role on Wednesday.