Scotland’s approach could not be faulted but they were duly punished for an inability to provide the killer touch at Wembley on Friday night.
England were no better than Scotland on the night, with Gordon Strachan’s players impressive in how courageously they took the game to the error-strewn hosts.
Scotland only had themselves to blame, however, as they missed a string of excellent chances following Daniel Sturridge’s opener, with Grant Hanley, Leigh Griffiths and James Forrest guilty of wastefulness.
Scotland were punished for their profligacy through further headers from Adam Lallana and Gary Cahill, heaping misery on the visitors, and leaving Strachan’s future in serious doubt following yet another hard-luck story which further dents Scotland’s hopes of qualifying for the World Cup finals in Russia.
That Scotland were picked off so easily by such a low-performing England side was once again cause for great alarm and the Wembley capitulation could well be Strachan’s last act as national team manager, as he looks set to quit in the increasing likelihood of yet another failed campaign.
Putting aside the glamour of the return of the oldest international fixture in competitive form – for the first time since 1999 – Scotland’s need was great. The previous month’s double-header against Lithuania and Slovakia, from which the Scots took just a solitary point, left the bid to qualify for the tournament finals in jeopardy and top seeds England were firm favourites in this encounter.
Strachan made eight changes from the side that was defeated 3-0 in Trnava, with only skipper Darren Fletcher, Grant Hanley and Robert Snodgrass keeping their places.
Craig Gordon replaced David Marshall in goal in his first competitive start since 2009, while Ikechi Anya was a surprise inclusion at right back, with Lee Wallace in at left back.
Fresh from reversing his retirement, Scott Brown came straight back into the side, while James Forrest and James Morrison occupied advanced midfield positions in support of attacker Leigh Griffiths in Strachan’s usual 4-3-2-1 system.
Scotland were backed by nearly 14,000 supporters creating an electric Wembley atmosphere. The visitors wearing their pink away shirts,
Scotland made a decent start, pressing high and forcing errors. But their only early attempt came through Forrest’s low deflected strike, which was saved by Joe Hart.
England began to sniff around Scotland’s box however, with a free kick from returning captain Wayne Rooney forcing Hanley to divert the ball behind for a corner.
The moment Scotland were dreading arrived on 24 minutes. Hanley was left grounded after getting his body in the way of Raheem Sterling’s long-range effort, with the ball falling kindly for Kyle Walker down the right flank. Walker supplied the cross for Daniel Sturridge to steer a neat close-range header past the helpless Gordon.
But the Scots’ response was excellent and Hanley should have levelled just three minutes later. Snodgrass’ corner from the right exposed vulnerability in the home defence as it found Hanley completely unmarked, but he showed an agonising lack of composure as he bulleted his header over. Snodgrass was left bawling at Griffiths moments later as the Celtic man failed to slip him in as the forward bore down on goal following Rooney’s slack pass, instead producing a weak shot which was deflected into the arms of Hart.
Fletcher also carved out a shooting chance for himself on the edge of the box and, although his effort was well off target, it was clear opportunities would continue to come Scotland’s way as long as they kept the deficit down to one goal.
Three minutes after the interval Wallace was released down the left flank in a neat breakaway, with his delivery cleverly dummied by Griffiths into the path of Forrest, who opened up a shooting chance for himself with a superb touch but drilled his effort wide of target.
Another burst down the left by Wallace created more problems as his cut back found Snodgrass, but he saw his goalbound effort from close-range blocked by John Stones.
Missed opportunities came back to bite the visitors as they agonisingly fell two goals behind on 50 minutes when Danny Rose’s delivery from the left was superbly guided into the net by the head of Lallana.
The game was put beyond any doubt on 61 minutes when Cahill headed home Rooney’s corner as England threatened to heap embarrassment on the Scots.
Scotland were spared further damage as Sterling missed an open goal from point-blank range, on what fast became a miserable night for the visitors that could have been worse.
