Montenegro and England shared two goals and the spoils at the Stadion Pod Goricom this evening.

Wayne Rooney headed the visiting Three Lions in front early on, but his effort was cancelled out during the second half by substitute Dejan Damjanovic.

Sports Mole has looked back over the clash to determine if either could argue that they were deserving of all three points.

Match statistics:

Montenegro:
Shots 18
On target 11
Possession 44%
Corners 10
Fouls 16

England:
Shots 14
On target 10
Possession 56%
Corners 6
Fouls 7

Was the result fair?

Never has the cliche 'a game of two halves' ever been so relevant to a football match. England controlled the first half and opened the scoring, but the second half saw the home side come into the contest and they were eventually rewarded for their domination. As both sides were in the ascendancy for 45 minutes, it was a fair outcome.

Montenegro's performance

The Montenegro players and coaching staff were rather confident going into the encounter, but they were made to look silly during the opening 45 minutes with a poor showing. They stood off England and allowed the visitors to dictate the play and tempo. Whatever was said at half time worked, though, and they eventually managed to find a way to beat Joe Hart. But for some wayward finishing, they would have done it sooner than the 76th minute.

England's performance

During the first half, it looked as though it was going to be a case of how many England would win by. For want of a better word they battered Montenegro for 45 minutes. However, a combination of scoring just one goal during their dominant period and an inept second-half performance resulted in Roy Hodgson's team having to settle for a draw.

Sports Mole's man of the match

Dejan Damjanovic: He may have only come on at half time, but Damjanovic's introduction changed the game. Before he came on his side had been ineffective, but during the second half he caused England no end of problems and went on to make himself a hero by scoring the equaliser.

Biggest gaffe:

This goes to the whole England team for allowing Montenegro to equalise. Yes it had been coming, but the manner of the goal would be disappointing for Hodgson. They had two or three chances to clear a corner, but they failed to do so and Damjanovic punished that by firing in from close range.

Referee performance

Jonas Eriksson harshly booked Danny Welbeck for diving inside the penalty area, but apart from that the Swedish official did very little wrong. In what was an intimidating atmosphere, but he refused to allow that to hamper his performance.

What next?

Montenegro: Next up for the Eastern Europeans is a home World Cup qualifier against Ukraine in June.

England: The Three Lions do not play a competitive match until September, but at the end of May they will play host to the Republic of Ireland at Wembley.

Written by
Liam Apicella