England tonight edged past Wales 1-0 in a Group G Euro2012 qualifier on a wet Wembley Stadium surface. Ashley Young's 35th minute goal was the difference between the sides who before the night had FIFA's debatable rankings showing England as the fourth best team in the world and Wales as the 117th.
But the match tonight made it clear that the gulf between these two is not nearly as big as it suggests with the much-improved Welsh producing a completely different performance to what they dished up in their 2-1 loss to Australia last month.
Friday's stirring win over Montenegro got Gary Speed's men back on track and although they leave London as losers, there will be plenty of positivity around the Dragons squad after holding their own against a strong England team.
The match ebbed and flowed with both sides having dominant sessions but when the Three Lions finally kicked into gear and worked the Welsh defence, it resulted in a goal when Stewart Downing jigged around Joe Ledley down the right before cutting back an inviting ball from the byline where Young was on hand to finish neatly from just outside the six-yard box.
England had the better of the chances in the first half and could have gone two to the good when Young whipped a wicked ball towards Wayne Rooney in the 40th minute but the in-form striker was unable to get anything on it when a feather touch would have put it in the back of the net.
Gareth Bale and Man of the Match Aaron Ramsey were causing all types of bother for England but they could not get Wales over the line although a draw should have been the order of the night if it wasn't for Robert Earnshaw's disastrous miss from pointblank range in the 76th minute.
Ramsey's free-kick from the left was floated to the back post where Darcy Blake tapped into the Cardiff City strikers path but he missed an open goal from the top of the six-yard box in what was a huge let-off for the England team.
Home keeper Joe Hart came up with a brilliant save in the 81st minute when Ramsey found Chris Gunter in the area but the referees assistant had called a foul on the Wales right-back. Nonetheless, the save by an advancing Hart was top drawer.
Earnshaw did what he could at the end to try and make amends but he could not beat Hart as Fabio Capello's charges recorded the win they need to get them within a point of qualifying for the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine next year.
England: 1 (Ashley Young 35') Wales: 0 Wembley Stadium, London - approx. 77,000
Yellow cards:ENG - James Milner 20' WAL - nil
