Young stars impress Terry
20 Nov 2008 - 08:06:43
England captain John Terry was relieved to head the winning goal in the 2-1 friendly success against Germany after his earlier blunder had allowed Joachim Low's side to grab an equaliser.
Dithering by Terry and goalkeeper Scott Carson allowed Germany's Patrick Helmes the opportunity to net after Matthew Upson had given Fabio Capello's side a deserved first-half lead.
However, with only six minutes left, Terry moved forward to head home Stewart Downing's pinpoint free-kick and clinch victory for England,
The Chelsea defender said after the success: "It was a good performance and it would have been an injustice had we ended up drawing the game.
"The conditions with the swirling wind made it difficult to get the ball down in play in the first half but in the second period we played a lot better and deserved the win.
"For me personally it's a great feeling to lead the side to victory in Germany, particularly after losing the game with them at Wembley 15 months ago.
"I hold my hands up. I'm to blame for their goal. There's no blame at all attached to Scott. I should have dealt with the situation better. Someone of my experience should have cleared the ball.
"But I'm relieved that I had the chance to make amends by going down the other end and getting the winner. I told Stewart to hold the ball up at the far post and I managed to get in front of their centre-half and head it home.
"The youngsters can be proud of themselves and I thought Gabby (Gabriel Agbonlahor) did fantastically well. I think these youngsters have given the manager a difficult problem for the future when he comes to picking his side.
"This is a great way to finish the year. We started it quite slowly but have got our confidence back and have got the fans back on our side."