Football: England....

England continued their preparations in unhindered fashion for the vital European Championship qualifier with Slovakia at the Riverside Stadium on Wednesday.

The entire squad were put through their paces in a training session on Sunday morning at Boro's Rockliffe Park training complex.

Birmingham central defender Matthew Upson confirmed his fitness by taking part in a second training stint in less than 24 hours.

Upson had suffered a dead leg when making his first start for his country in the midweek friendly international with Serbia and Montenegro.

FA spokesman Adrian Bevington confirmed: "The good news is that all 23 members of the squad were able to take part in a full training session."

Well things seem ok,with some important games comming up for england.So to have all the players fit is a must.....

Captain Michael Owen celebrated his 50th cap by netting two second-half goals to earn England a vital 2-1 win over Slovakia at the Riverside Stadium.

Going into the interval a goal down to Vladimir Janocko's freak opener, England turned the screw in the second period to keep alive their hopes of reaching Euro 2004.

The Liverpool striker netted the equaliser from the penalty spot, before scoring a 73rd-minute winner with a bullet header beautifully crafted by Anfield team-mate Steven Gerrard.

Well it was a win but what a poor first half showing by England..Alright we created a couple of chances but slovakia played better than us...
But what a change in the second half a much better performance and 2 goals to get the win..

A draw would have been a fair result, we were rubbish against a team that should have been played off the park. Really need to sort the tactics out before the Turkey match.