For the first time since 1995 England faced the Republic of Ireland as part of the FA’s 150th anniversary celebrations. England’s wait to beat Ireland will go on thanks to some outstanding performances from the Irish team.
It didn’t take long for the first goal to arrive. Shane Long made the most of a suberb ball over from Seamus Coleman. Long’s glancing header went right into the corner of Joe Hart’s goal to send the 10,000 travelling Irish fans into delirium. It didn’t take England very long to find a route back into the game. The ever present Frank Lampard capitalised on some slack defending from the Irish to flick home the equaliser after 23 minutes. It was the midfielder’s 29th goal for his country, putting him 1 goal behind Alan Shearer in the all-time England scoring charts.
The second half didn’t bring as many chances as the first however both teams had a few opportunities to win the match. Ashley Cole had a chance to score his first ever England goal in his 102nd England appearance but was unfortunate. Then down the other end England were very fortunate not to concede another when Ben Foster fumbled a catch, dropping it straight onto the head on Jonathan Walters. This could have produced a goal had Simon Cox not been flagged as offside. Later in the game England started to press more in the hope of finding a winner. Both Walcott and Oxlade Chamberlain had efforts saved by Ford in the Irish goal. Thanks to their hard fought efforts Ireland held out to claim a well deserved draw.
