England edged closer to next year's World Cup finals after a scrappy 0-0 draw in Ukraine on Tuesday left the Group H leaders in pole position to secure a ticket to Brazil with two matches to play.
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A point from an untidy match which featured few goalscoring chances after a hectic opening 10 minutes moved England on to 16 points, one ahead of Ukraine and Montenegro with Poland two points further back.
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Unmarked Ukraine defender Artem Fedetskiy wasted his side's best opening after 73 minutes when from six metres out he headed straight at keeper Joe Hart from a corner.
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Frank Lampard then almost capped his 100th England appearance with the winner when his stooping header crept past a post in stoppage time.
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England welcome Montenegro to Wembley on October 11, the same night Ukraine host Poland. In the concluding fixtures four days later, England host the Poles with Ukraine away at San Marino and Montenegro playing Moldova.
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England, still unbeaten in competitive fixtures under Roy Hodgson in regulation time had few alarms after the opening exchanges with Hart rarely tested by a Ukraine side that showed little of the vibrancy that secured a 1-1 draw a year ago at Wembley when they were denied victory by a late Lampard penalty.
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Hart was perhaps fortunate not to concede a penalty inside the first 60 seconds when made contact low down with Roman Zozulya as the striker looked to meet a dangerous low cross, a corner rather than spot-kick awarded.
England should've won that game cos so many other countries were believing they would win so I'm still shocked at the draw.