England suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Australia in tonight's friendly international at Upton Park. England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson fielded his first choice side in the first half but goals from Tony Popovic and Harry Kewell put the Aussies in the driving seat.
The introduction of Wayne Rooney and a whole new team in the second half sparked a brief revival and Francis Jeffers scored on his debut. But Brett Emerton made sure of victory for the visitors five minutes from time to leave Eriksson with plenty of headaches before the clashes with Liechtenstein and Turkey.
Elsewhere a goal from Liverpool captain Sami Hyypia gave Finland a 1-0 win over Northern Ireland in their international friendly at Windsor Park tonight. Hyypia breached the defence after 49 minutes to heap more misery on Sammy McIlroy's side.
It was hardly the result they needed ahead of the Euro 2004 qualifiers against Armenia and Greece in March and April. There was no lack of effort, however, and despite a rousing finish they couldn't get the equaliser they craved.
Meanwhile Mark Hughes' Wales team became the first in the country's history to go nine games unbeaten after they drew 2-2 with Bosnia-Herzegovina at the Millennium Stadium. But Wales made hard work of it as they came from behind twice with Robert Earnshaw equalising in the first half and John Hartson levelling late in the second.
Bosnia made the brighter start and took the lead through Galatasary striker Elvir Baljic after five minutes, but Earnshaw equalised two minutes later, firing home from 18 metres. In a dull second half the Bosnians again took the lead after 64 minutes through Sergej Barbarez but with just 14 minutes remaining Hartson popped up to salvage a draw.
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
