England 0 Montenegro 0: Toiling England are smothered

After last night, they are likely to be, along with the World Cup debacle against Germany, an abiding image of what has been Fabio Capello's annus horibillis as England manager.

Zlatko Kranjcar's side may have arrived at Wembley sitting proudly on top of Group G with three Euro 2012 qualifying wins to their name. But Montenegro were, nevertheless, expected to be swept aside by a Three Lions outfit who, if not totally over their summer flop in South Africa, had at least seemed well on the road to recovery after convincing victories over Bulgaria and Switzerland last month.

Instead, what the 73,451 Wembley crowd got was a display every bit as tepid from Capello's side as that which turned the World Cup into such a miserable affair for anyone with an English passport.

For the first time since Wembley was rebuilt, England failed to score on home soil as Montenegro followed Croatia by claiming reward from their trip to London.

That night in 2007 brought the end for Steve McClaren, who cruelly became known as the 'wally with the brolly' after seeking refuge from the rain as the Croatians booked their place at Euro 2008 with a 3-2 win.

Capello is unlikely to suffer a similar fate with there still being five qualifying games to play. But there can be little doubt that the pressure on the Italian has increased markedly after this woeful display.

There was, admittedly, no lack of effort from the home side – if anything, at times they almost seemed to be trying too hard.

But there were also far too many players who either performed poorly – step forward Gareth Barry – or hid when the going got tough amid growing frustration in the stands.

Wayne Rooney's collapse in form also did not help with the Manchester United striker missing two chances that, back at the turn of the year, he would have converted with little trouble.

All in all, it added up to a forgettable night for England – though that is unlikely to be a luxury afforded Capello should the dropping of two points to the current group leaders on home soil prove to be costly come the end of qualifying.

Certainly, last night's draw has the potential to do just that with the Three Lions' next competitive fixture being a trip to Cardiff where the fervour of a local derby will make it a tough afternoon on March 26.

If Capello's men are to prevail in the valleys then they will have to improve hugely on their disjointed efforts against Montenegro.

The tone was set in the first half when, apart from Gerrard and Adam Johnson, there was little to encourage the home fans.

England's best chance came on 15 minutes when a clever free-kick by Gerrard found right-back Glen Johnson in space on the right flank.

He quickly whipped the ball in for Peter Crouch, who despite finding space in the six-yard box could only head wide.

That and a couple of darts down the right wing by Adam Johnson apart, however, England offered little against the well-organised visitors.

Matters improved marginally after half-time as a sublime pass from Gerrard, playing much further forward, played Rooney in only for his shot to lack conviction and be easily beaten away by Mladen Bozovic.

The Montenegro goalkeeper was then called into action again on 73 minutes when Rooney's tenacity created an opening after Sheffield-born Kevin Davies, on as a substitute for Crouch, had unsettled the defence.

Frustratingly for England, though, the end result was the same as a drilled shot was beaten away by Bozovic.

As the game entered the final stages, the home side's efforts became more desperate and frantic with appeals for a penalty, as Milan Jovanovic appeared to handle, dismissed by referee Manuel Grafe.

As hard as the home side pushed, however, Montenegro refused to buckle and they could have claimed all three points six minutes from time when Jovanovic crashed a fierce shot against the crossbar with Joe Hart beaten.

That the ball rebounded to safety did, at least, give England a crumb of comfort with the claiming of a point. The booing that met the final whistle, however, suggested it was not one that cut much mustard with the supporters.

England: Hart; G Johnson, Ferdinand, Lescott, A Cole;A Johnson, Gerrard, Barry, Young (Wright-Phillips 75); Crouch (Davies 70), Rooney. Unused substitutes: Foster, Warnock, Cahill, Wilshere, Downing.

Montenegro: Bozovic; Savic, Dzudovic, Basa, Jovanovic; Zverotic, Vukcevic, Boskovic (Beciraj 81), Novakovic (Kascelan 62); Boskovic, Djalovic (Delibasic 77). Unused substitutes: Blazic, Pejovic, Tomasevic, Batak.

Referee: M Grafe (Germany).