England 1 Ukraine 1: Lampard’s penalty unable to mask England’s flaws

But last night in the capital, the presence of a dust cart would have been more than appropriate to help clear up the mess that was England’s performance against a Ukrainian side who were unfortunate not to leave with all three World Cup qualifying points.

Frank Lampard’s penalty three minutes from time was enough to rescue the Three Lions after they had trailed for more than half the game to an exquisite 25-yard curled strike from Yevhen Konoplianka.

What the late equaliser could not do, however, was paper over the cracks of a display that went a long way to banishing much of the feelgood factor that had filled London’s streets the previous afternoon when hundreds of thousands of sports fans had turned out to salute Team GB’s medal winners. Mostly awful both with and without the ball, England could have had few complaints had Ukraine exacted revenge for their Euro 2012 defeat 84 days earlier in Donetsk.

Roy Hodgson’s men were not only wasteful in possession but also slow to close down the opposition – a combination that can only spell trouble at this level.

So it proved with England fortunate to escape with a point on a night when Steven Gerrard was sent off in the closing stages after collecting a second booking for a clumsy challenge on Denys Garmash. The Liverpool captain had earlier left Ruslan Rotan with a cut eye courtesy of a stray elbow so could have few complaints with the dismissal.

It turned out to be one of the few blows England managed to land on the visitors, who packed something of a punch throughout – something that probably should not have come as a surprise considering Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin had enlivened his post-match press conference after the Euro 2012 meeting between the two sides by offering to step outside with a local journalist for a “man chat”.

They could have gone ahead as early as the fourth minute courtesy of Andriy Yarmolenko’s deflected cross that grazed the outside of a post with Joe Hart beaten.

Moments later, Yarmolenko was unfortunate to see a ricochet bounce just beyond his grasp and towards the grateful Hart after England had been opened up by neat work from Konoplianka, before Denys Garmash volleyed over at full stretch when meeting Yevhen Seglin’s cross.

The goal when it finally arrived seven minutes before the break was a stunning curling effort from the right boot of Konoplianka.

But Lescott’s error in gifting possession to Yarmolenko when the Ukrainian was prone on the floor was dreadful.

So, it has to be said, were the two first-half misses by Tom Cleverley that ensured the visitors went in ahead at the break.

First, he fired straight at Andriy Piatov’s feet on 34 minutes after Jermain Defoe had unselfishly headed across goal towards his unmarked team-mate. Then, the one-time Bradford City junior compounded such a lame effort with another shocker just before the break when firing wide after being picked out by Lampard.

Cleverley’s double miss was met with groans from the 68,102 crowd, who had earlier seen a perfectly legitimate ‘goal’ by Defoe ruled out by referee Cuneyt Cakir.

The Turkish official was guilty of allowing himself to be fooled by the theatrical antics of Yarmolenko when trying to suggest the Spurs striker had delivered a forearm smash to the head before firing past goalkeeper Piatov.

The 2,000 visiting fans may have considered Defoe’s ‘goal’ being ruled out to be some form of justice after their ‘equaliser’ against England in Donetsk had been disallowed but such thinking ignores the fact that an offside had been missed during the build-up to John Terry clearing Mark Devic’s shot after it had already crossed the line.

That simply made last night’s call by Cakir a bad one.

Ukraine continued to press after half-time with Leighton Baines needing to be alert to avert the danger as Roman Zozulya waited to tap in Yarmolenko’s cross after Phil Jagielka had put his own side in danger with a loose pass.

A second goal then would have meant the end for England but instead they staged a late rally that saw Danny Welbeck fire against a post when it seemed easier to score.

Glen Johnson, the hosts’ most potent attacking threat all night, also went close with a drilled effort that Piatov touched round a post only for referee Cakir to signal a goalkick.

Thankfully for England, the official did finally get a decision right three minutes from time when Yevgen Khacheridi handled inside the area and Lampard did the rest with a typically assured finish to ensure Hodgson’s side snatched what could yet prove to be a vital point.

Hodgson said: “Some of the yellow cards were a bit hard to take and if Steven Gerrard committed two fouls in the game I’d be surprised.

“We went a goal down to a wonder goal but I was really pleased with the way we kept tidy, kept trying and didn’t resort to any hopeful long balls.”

England: Hart; Johnson, Jagielka, Lescott, Baines (Bertrand 73); Milner, Gerrard, Lampard, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Sturridge 69); Cleverley (Welbeck 62); Defoe. Unused substitutes: Walker, Ruddy, Bertrand, Cahill, Carrick, Livermore, Lallana, Sterling, Butland.

Ukraine: Pyatov; Gusev, Khacheridi (Devic 89), Rakytskiy, Selin (Shevchuk 75); Rotan (Nazarenko 90), Tymoshchuk; Yarmolenko, Garmash, Konoplianka; Zozulya. Unused substitutes: Koval, Bezus, Mandzyuk, Stepanenko, Butko, Dykan.

Referee: C Cakir (Turkey).