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Saturday 26 March 2011

Wales get Bent backwards (Wales 0-2 England)

With England's Cricket side getting knocked out of the World Cup, the pressure was on the footballers to deliver a result that would restore pride to the nation, and they did not disappoint.

The game started with England flying out the traps with the pace of Scousers elbow, and within the first 5 minutes, they already had Wales on the ropes. Young had managed to squirm his way into the Welsh box before being brought down by Aston Villa defender James Collins. Lampard calmly stepped up to send the Wales and Wolves number 1 Hennessey the wrong way, slotting well into the bottom corner. 1-0!

Gary Speed's side should have seen the signs of another England goal. They were dominant with possession and were creating more chances with corners and a Rooney header towards goal cleared by Chris Gunter, but they were outplayed for the second. A long ball from Johnson to Ashley Young was accurate, Young then ran with the ball down the wing to deliver a sublime cross to his Villa compatriot Bent, who beat Collins at the near post to blast into the roof of the net. 2-0! with 15 minutes gone.

The game then slowed down to a tortoise, with no other shots on target being recorded. Rooney's volley attempt and Bent's header both went wide of the Wales goal, whilst the home sides best chance (if you can call it a chance) was a Bellamy cross that was cleared away by the England defence. By the end, the Welsh crowd were glad to hear the whistle sound for half time.

The start to the second half wasn't much better for Gary Speed's side, Hennesseys stray ball came to Ashley Young who whipped in another dangerous cross, but to no prevail, but they were allowed to attack a few minutes later. Bellamy made two runs towards Hart's goal, both of them resulting in wasted chances for the Dragons. The game did not really have much flow this half, as England were content to just sit back, whilst Wales had no finish. Ramseys attempt went high and wide, and their four corners within five minutes elluded most of the Welsh attack.

In the final minutes, there was enough time for substitute Stewart Downing to make a run towards the Welsh area, before narrowly missing with a curling strike. Bellamy also had a half chance from far out, but it went wide for a very frustrated Wales team. The full time whistle sounded on the city of Cardiff, we must thank England for the first 15 minutes of football, because without it we would have had a very dreary game.

Wales: Hennessey, J.Collins, Williams, D.Collins, Gunter, King (Evans 66), Crofts, Ramsey, Ledley, Bellamy, Morison (Vaughan 66)
England: Hart, Johnson, Terry, Dawson, Cole, Lampard, Parker (Jagielka 88), Wilshere (Downing 82), Young, Bent, Rooney (Milner 70)

BeeTeeSports Man Of The Match: Ashley Young (9/10)

Billy Taylor

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