England Saved At Wembley; Scotland Held By Northern Ireland

If truth be told it was quite an interesting night of international football and none more so than at Wembley where England struggled yet again.

The Czech Republic made for stiff opposition and Milan Baros opened the scoring for the visitors. England were as usual far from any sort of form but managed an equaliser through an unusual source before half time.

Wes Brown was the hero as he sent England down the tunnel at least level after a difficult first half.

An inspirational half time speech from Fabio Capello then? I hope not as within three minutes England were down again as Junkulovski struck the Czech's back into the lead.

Just when it looked like all was lost for England though Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole saved the day with a late late leveller.

A 2-2 draw is far from the worst friendly result but England will need to improve ahead of the World Cup qualifiers.

Not what John Terry was hoping for anyway!

Scotland took on Northern Ireland at Hampden in an old style "home international." The crowd was in good voice with 6,000 fans travelling across from Ireland making for a great atmosphere.

No goals at Hampden but some great football and a few interesting talking points.

First there was a sending off. Not really what friendlies are all about.

Ireland's young left back Ryan McGivern was sent off for a second yellow for pulling down Scott Brown in full flight. A tad harsh on the youngster but the rules are the rules and the Danish official waved away the protests as he produced the red card.

Moment's later Northern Ireland had a penalty. Alan McGregor clattering Warren Feeney when through on goal and the sub keeper was lucky himself to stay on the park.

Luckily for Scotland though, he did!

The Rangers keeper dived to his right to deny David Healy with a brilliant save!

Overall it was a very good game with both teams blooding promising youngsters ahead of next months qualifiers.

I'd have liked to see Scotland go for it with Kris Boyd but George Burley chose to hand out experience in the defense and with David Weir hobbling off with a hamstring it may come in useful in Macedonia.

Scotland still can't win a friendly at home but I'm happy with the result.

Elsewhere Argentina were held to a goalless draw in Belarus. Considering Scotland have recently chosen not to play the South Americans as they charge £1m a game. Belarus must be skint!

The Republic of Ireland drew 1-1 in Norway. Liverpool new boy Robbie Keane continuing his great international form with the first goal. Reginiussen equalized for Norway.

Other results:

Russia 1-1 Netherlands

Denmark 0-3 Spain

Italy 2-2 Austria (Austria scored three of the four goals.)

Germany 2-0 Belgium

Sweden 2-3 France