Terry header hands England victory

12 April 2012

Captain John Terry atoned for a costly error to earn England's makeshift team a deserved 2-1 victory against Germany in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.

The Chelsea defender headed home an 84th-minute free-kick from Stewart Downing to make amends for his mix-up with goalkeeper Scott Carson which had gifted Patrick Helmes an equaliser early in the second half.

Matthew Upson had scored his first goal for England to give Fabio Capello's side a half-time lead and they looked assured and composed despite fielding only three first-choice players.

Germany's only first-half threat came through the excellent set piece delivery of Bastian Schweinsteiger, with Heiko Westermann sending a powerful header just over.

Aside from a good effort from debutant Gabriel Agbonlahor, Shaun Wright-Phillips came close on a couple of occasions and Downing forced an excellent save out of Rene Adler.

After the Jens Lehmann era, it seemed somehow fitting Germany should concede to a kamikaze goalkeeping blunder. Adler came to punch Downing's corner with purpose after an Upson effort had been deflected wide, but he missed it completely.

Agbonlahor probably should have bundled home. Instead, the ball bounced down off the striker and Upson launched himself at it, prodding his first England goal into an empty net.

Wright-Phillips nearly scored in memorable fashion after a mazy run before substitute Darren Bent beat the German offside trap, skipped round replacement keeper Tim Wiese but could not find the empty net.

Helmes then drew the hosts level when a mix up between Terry and Carson, on his first England appearance since his nightmare against Croatia 12 months ago, allowed the German striker to nip in and pass the ball into the empty net.