England labour to score draw in Poland
Reuters - Wednesday 17 October 2012, 17:49
England missed the chance to go three points clear at the top of World
Cup qualifying Group H when they laboured to a 1-1 draw with Poland on
Wednesday.
Wayne Rooney's
header via his shoulder from a Steven Gerrard corner just after the half-hour mark put the visitors ahead but defender Kamil Glik levelled for
the Poles, also heading home a corner with 20 minutes remaining.
"It's
my fault. That's cost us three points," England goalkeeper Joe Hart
told ITV television after failing to get any contact on Ludovic
Obraniak's corner which was nodded in by Glik.
England,
who stretched their unbeaten run against Poland to 15 matches since
1973, top the group on eight points from four matches, with Montenegro
second on seven having played a game less and Poland third on five from
three.
"It's a decent point
but we know we can play better than that. I believe this point will be a
good one at the end of the day, I don't think any team will get maximum
points here," said England captain Gerrard.
The
match had been scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed due to a
waterlogged pitch when officials failed to close the national stadium's
roof despite a heavy rainstorm, angering thousands of fans who were kept
in the arena for hours.
Earlier
on Wednesday, the England players and the FA said they would reimburse
the ticket costs for supporters who stayed on for the match while the
Polish FA said it would set up a refund process for those unable to
attend.
"The fans were outstanding staying an extra day. Their fans were great coming too. We made something good out of it," said Hart.
The
match was largely dour, with players in the warm-up visibly anxious
about the sodden surface and the pitch cut up during the match and made
fluent football difficult.
Poland
tried hard to inflict a first defeat on the former World Cup winners in
nearly 40 years and after Glik's equaliser the momentum was with the
home side but England held out.
"I
feel disappointed. We had a chance. We could have won. But
congratulations are in order to the team anyway," said Polish captain
Jakub Blaszczykowski who missed the game through injury.