[attach id=246898 size="medium"]England striker Wayne Rooney scores with a header against Montenegro.[/attach]
Last month, England played two World Cup qualifiers, both away.
In San Marino, Roy Hodgson’s men had a ‘walk over’ since the modest locals failed to offer any kind of resistance and lost 0-8. Four days later, England travelled to Montenegro and this time only managed a 1-1 draw.
Montenegro are two points ahead of England in the classification. Yet the Whites are still to face their main group rivals at Wembley.
In San Marino, England netted eight goals for the first time since they beat Turkey by the same scoreline in a European Championship qualifier at home in 1987.
England also recorded a big win over San Marino after a 7-1 thrashing in a World Cup qualifier in 1993. On that occasion, San Marino famously scored after eight seconds.
Other news for March read:
• In the second leg of their Champions League last 16 tie, Manchester United lose 1-2 to Real Madrid at Old Trafford to exit 2-3 on aggregate.
• Alex Ferguson pays tribute to Ryan Giggs in the above match as the Welsh winger played his 1,000th senior game.
• Celtic bow out to Juventus in the same competition, losing 0-2 in Turin, 0-5 on aggregate.
• In the Europa League second round, first-leg ties, Tottenham topple Inter 3-0 at White Hart Lane.
Other results: Anzhi-Newcastle 0-0, S. Bucharest-Chelsea 1-0.
• In an FA quarter-final tie, Everton go down 3-0 to Wigan at Goodison Park.
• Premier League side Reading sack manager Brian McDermott.
• Despite their 2-0 away win against Bayern Munich, Arsenal go out on the away goals rule after a 3-3 aggregate draw.
• The trio of English clubs left in the Europa League all progress to the third round − Inter-Tottenham 4-1 (4-4 on aggregate, on the away goals rule), Chelsea-S. Bucharest 3-1 (3-2) aggregate and Newcastle-Anzhi 1-0 (1-0).
• At Hampden Park, St Mirren beat Hearts 3-2 (Goncalves, Thompson, Newton − Stevenson 2) to lift of the Scottish League Cup for the first time in their history.
• Former England international Michael Owen, who is playing for Stoke, announces that he will hang up his boots at the end of the season.
• West Ham will be the Olympic stadium tenants after the government increases its fund by £25m to about £60m.
• Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand turns down Roy Hodgson’s invitation to join the England squad for the World Cup qualifiers.
• Greg Dyke, the former director general of the BBC, will replace David Bernstein as Football Association’s chairman.
• In an U-21 friendly at Adams Park, England thump Romania 3-0 (Zaha, Robinson, Delfouneso).
• In San Marino, England emerge with a significant scoreline of 8-0 (Valle og, Oxlade Chamberlain, Defoe 2, Young, Lampard, Rooney, Sturridge).
Other World Cup qualification results: Sweden-Ireland 0-0; Scotland-Wales 1-2 (Hanley − Ramsey pen, Robson-Kanu).
• In an U-21 European Championship match, Scotland beat Luxembourg 3-0 (Walker, Watt, Toshney) at home.
• At Brighton, England Under-21 topple Austria 4-0 (Shelvey, McEachran, Sordell, Wickham). In another friendly, Ireland go down at home 1-2 (Doherty) to Portugal.
• England U-21 side have not lost or conceded a goal since November 2011. They won nine consecutive games, a new record for the U-21s.
• Reading confirm Nigel Adkins (ex-Southampton) as their new manager.
• In Montenegro, England draw 1-1 with Wayne Rooney scoring their goal.
Other World Cup qualifiers: Northern Ireland-Israel 0-2, Republic of Ireland-Austria 2-2 (Walters 2, 1 pen), Serbia-Scotland 2-0, Wales-Croatia 1-2 (Bale penalty).
• Sunderland sack manager Martin O’Neill.
Leading marksmen
Premier League
22 − Suarez (Liverpool)
19 − Van Persie (Man. United)
17 − Michu (Swansea), Bale (Tottenham)
The Championship
29 − Murray (Crystal Palace)
25 − Austin (Burnley)
24 − Rhodes (Blackburn)
Scottish Premier
22 − Higdon (Motherwell)
20 − McKay (Inverness), Griffiths (Hibernian)
18 − McGinn (Aberdeen)
Average attendances
01. Manchester United - 75,526
02. Arsenal - 60,077
03. Newcastle - 50,061
04. Manchester City - 46,985
05. Liverpool - 44,695
06. Chelsea - 41,408
07. Sunderland - 40,123
08. Everton - 36,524
09. Tottenham - 36,000
10. West Ham United - 34,681
11. Aston Villa - 33,838
12. Southampton - 30,623
13. Stoke City - 26,780
14. Norwich City - 26,683
15. Fulham - 25,496
16. West Bromwich - 25,188
17. Reading - 23,925
18. Swansea City - 20,351
19. Wigan Athletic - 19,077
20. QPR - 17,886