Andy Cole shut up his critics tonight with the third goal in England's 3-1 win away to Albania in Group Nine of the World Cup qualifiers. However, the win was marred by an incident involving debutant Ashley Cole who appeared to have been hit on the head by a missile thrown by the crowd. He was left bleeding afterwards and FIFA have said they will launch an inquiry into the incident.
England left it late before they took the lead against Albania. After looking unconvincing both up front and at the back for most of this game, the course of the game turned in England's favour when Liverpool striker Michael Owen, subdued for the best part of the match, latched on to a Paul Scholes pass and beat the offside trap to score in the 72nd minute.
Scholes then turned from provider to scorer to add a second for England when club teammate Cole set him up and the United midfielder's blistering shot rattled the underside of the crossbar before hitting the net. However, Albania managed to pull one back through Anton Rrakilli late in the game and had another one disallowed for offside before none other than Andy Cole popped up to secure the points for England and score his first international goal in six years of trying. But Cole will not get the chance to repeat his feat in England's next World Cup qualifer as a yellow card tonight rules him out of that match.
Despite the lateness of England's goals, manager Sven Goran Eriksson was pleased with the result and especially with Cole's goal. "I am happy for him because the trouble he has had in scoring in the national team might have disturbed him. Now the ice is broken and he played very well. It was a very good result and though we created few chances in the first-half the team was very patient and believed in what we were doing. We never allowed Albania to counterattack as they did against Germany. I am very pleased with all the players, it was a good professional performance," he said.
Meanwhile, Scotland returned to the top of Group Six after a convincing 4-0 victory over San Marino. Colin Hendry scored twice while Billy Dodds and Colin Cameron notched up the other two goals. In Group Five, Wales did well to draw 1-1 with the Ukraine and preserve their slim hopes of qualifying for the World Cup. Mark Hughes' men were outstanding in their efforts and would have deserved a victory for all their hard work if it wasn't for the brilliant ability of Andrei Shevchenko who scored the equaliser and proved he was in a different class from everyone else on the field in Cardiff tonight.
To check out the rest of tonight's results in the World Cup qualifiers click here.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
