Owen unscathed in England win

Michael Owen may have been upstaged by Alan Smith and Stewart Downing on his England return but Steve McClaren's star striker still did enough at Turf Moor to have his name inked in for the vital Euro 2008 qualifier in Estonia on June 6.

Smith opened the scoring in a comfortable 3-1 win over Albania, with Downing netting twice, and wide-man Besart Berisha firing home for the visitors.

It was Owen's contribution that really interested McClaren though, with England's all-time fourth top scorer completing a precious 90 minutes in his usual energetic manner that will leave his coach hoping he will be back to his best when his country really needs him next month.

The Newcastle forward's best opportunity came early on, when he side-footed Aaron Lennon's cross wide from 10 yards.

He was also close to getting on the end of a couple of crosses, although Owen's desire to score was not desperate enough to prevent him setting up Downing's second.

With all the Chelsea, Liverpool and - with the exception of Smith - Manchester United contingent, plus Owen Hargreaves and, just possibly, David Beckham missing from the squad McClaren will announce on Saturday lunchtime, it was fairly obvious which starters needed to impress.

Lennon was one. Unfortunately, the Tottenham winger lasted only nine minutes before he limped off with what appeared to be an ankle injury.

Lennon's only serious involvement was the chance he provided for Owen. Under pressure from Blerim Rustemaj as he crossed, Lennon immediately signalled to the bench his night was over.

McClaren will clearly need to assess the injury but as he ponders whether to bring Beckham back, the loss of one of his main wide men only makes a positive outcome more likely for the Real Madrid superstar, who must have thought his international career would remain stuck on 94 caps.