England 1-0 Ukraine

By Joe Fish, Reporter | 19 June 2012

England top Group D and set up a quarter-final meeting with Italy after beating Ukraine 1-0 in Donetsk courtesy of a Wayne Rooney goal.

A goal from the returning Wayne Rooney earned England a battling 1-0 victory over Ukraine in Donetsk tonight and sent them through to the Euro 2012 quarter-finals.

Rooney, who missed the opening two games of the tournament through suspension, netted a 48th-minute header to eliminate the co-hosts and book England a last-eight tie against Italy on Sunday.

The result was not without controversy, however, as Ukraine thought that they had scored an equaliser through Marko Devic on the hour mark.

The midfielder's effort was partially stopped by Joe Hart but the ball continued on its path goalwards before John Terry appeared to clear it off the line.

However, replays showed that the whole ball had crossed the line as England found themselves on the other side of a goal-line call following the incident that marred their 2010 World Cup defeat to Germany.

Hart had earlier been called upon to deny Oleg Gusev from long range and then saved well from Andriy Yarmalenko's left-footed strike as the Ukrainians had the better of the opening half-hour.

Rooney then wasted an opportunity to open the scoring as he somehow headed wide after being found unmarked by Ashley Young's inviting cross.

However, the Manchester United striker simply couldn't miss when he was presented with a second chance moments after the break.

Ukraine goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov failed to clear Steven Gerrard's drilled low cross and gifted Rooney a tap-in header at the back post.

National treasure Andriy Shevchenko was introduced as the hosts went in search of an equaliser, but he couldn't inspire them to a comeback as he did against Sweden during the opening round of fixtures.

His namesake Yarmalenko did come close with a bending effort late on but England hung on to maintain their unbeaten record under Roy Hodgson.

As a result of France's 2-0 defeat to Sweden, England avoid Spain in the last eight courtesy of topping Group D.

Read Sports Mole's in-depth analysis of the match here.