England 1 Republic of Ireland 1: Hodgson with plenty to ponder as England struggle to impress

Sadly, however, the other pre-match call from the Three Lions manager – namely, for his players to stake a strong claim for a starting role when the World Cup qualifiers resume in the Autumn – was a message that largely went unheeded.

Certainly, an uninspiring draw at home to a Republic of Ireland side sitting fourth in their own qualifying group is not something that will have the managers of Group H rivals Ukraine, Poland and Montenegro losing any sleep over the summer.

With a defence shorn of both Rio Ferdinand and John Terry again failing to convince, England also lacked sufficient guile against a plucky, if limited Irish side to suggest that things will be any different come the resumption of the fight to reach Brazil 2014.

Okay, England could have triumphed in their final home game of the season, most notably late on when, first, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and then Theo Walcott were denied by David Forde.

Ashley Cole also came within a whisker of marking his big night as captain by scoring a rare goal but, equally, the Republic could also have been celebrating a famous victory come the final whistle after Ben Foster made such a hash of a routine catch.

That let in Sean St Ledger and Jon Walters but after the pair had combined to nudge the ball goalwards, the ball struck Simon Cox in an offside position and the linesman’s flag did the rest.

All in all, therefore, a far from satisfactory night to round off England’s season at Wembley and there is little doubt that Hodgson’s men will need to improve when the final quartet of qualifiers comes round in September and October.

In contrast to the sense of deflation in the home ranks, the chants of ‘You’ll never beat the Irish’ that rang around Wembley told their own story as Giovanni Trapattoni once again enjoyed a visit to the home of English football.

As a player, he had helped AC Milan beat Benfica in the 1963 European Cup final, while as a coach his Fiorentina side beat Arsenal at the old Wembley in the Champions League.

Last night may not have been on a par with those famous victories but there was no doubting the sense of pride and satisfaction in the Italian’s face at the end.

The pre-match talk may have been all about the home fans cutting out the ‘No Surrender to the IRA’ chants but for the opening quarter of the game it was more a case of ‘Irish Eyes Are Smiling’ as the noisy visitors turned Wembley into a sea of green.

A stunning cross by Seamus Coleman on 13 minutes and an even more impressive header by Shane Long was the cause, the two combining to ensure the ball floated beyond the despairing dive of Joe Hart in the England goal to give the visitors a shock lead.

As the Irish fans celebrated and a couple of green flares landed on the pitch, the rest of the 80,126 crowd were left stunned.

England needed a lift and it duly arrived midway through the first half courtesy of a trademark cool finish from Chelsea’s Frank Lampard.

The veteran showed tremendous poise to nudge the ball past David Forde from five yards but, in truth, England’s equaliser perhaps owed more to Glenn Whelan and Sean St Ledger needlessly getting in each other’s way while trying to clear what had seemed to be an ineffectual cross from Danny Welbeck.

Buoyed to be level, the Three Lions fashioned a couple of decent opening before the break as, first, Theo Walcott saw his attempted cross blocked by Sean St Ledger.

Then, after the Arsenal winger’s trickery had again exposed the Irish defence, his path to goal was this time blocked by Coleman, who cleared the ball just as a couple of white shirts waited to pounce.

Forde also had to be alert to cut out a Johnson cross as the Irish left flank was again left exposed before Robbie Keane had a big shout for a penalty turned down when he appeared to be bundled to the ground by Rooney during a goalmouth scramble.

Rooney may have got away with that but he was rueing his own misfortune three minutes after the restart when a move he started with a sublime chipped pass ended with St Ledger clearing in front of his own goal just as Cole seemed set to tap in.

Walcott then brought a save from David Forde, who had to at his best in the final stages as, first, he blocked an Oxlade-Chamberlain shot with his legs.

The Millwall goalkeeper then kept out Walcott with a reflex stop as the home side tried to capitalise on tiring legs. A second home goal, though, was not to be as the Irish held out to claim a deserved draw and leave Hodgson needing a big improvement from his charges on Sunday in Brazil.

England: Hart (Foster 46); Johnson (Jones 46), Cahill, Jagielka, Cole (Baines 54); Walcott, Lampard, Carrick, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Milner 87); Rooney, Sturridge (Defoe 34). Unused substitutes: Foster, Lescott, Jones, Rodwell, Welbeck, McCarthy.

Republic of Ireland: Forde; Coleman, O’Shea, St Ledger, Kelly; Walters (Sammon 82), McCarthy, Whelan ( Hendrick 74), McGeady (McClean 68); Long, Keane (Cox 66). Unused substitutes: Westwood, Delaney, Keogh, O’Dea, McShane, Quinn, Randolph, Meyler, Brady, Keogh, Hoolahan.

Referee: W Collum (Scotland).