Eriksson's England bereft of guile

England - 2 Macedonia - 2: England's qualification campaign took an unexpected turn for the worse last night as Macedonia twice took the lead and continued to frustrate their supposedly superior opponents to such an extent that Alan Smith, a player hardly known for his calmness of temperament, was sent off in injury time having been shown a second yellow card.

Macedonia's first goal, scored direct from an early corner, owed much to good fortune and the continuing fallibility of David Seaman, but England and Sven-Goran Eriksson can have few complaints after an display bereft of guile.

Eriksson, as we have discovered over the past six months or so, is a man of many surprises. Last night's was as great as any in his private life, with Wayne Bridge being asked to start on the left of midfield at the expense of Nicky Butt inside.

The idea of Bridge playing in front of Ashley Cole or vice versa has long been mooted as a potential solution to Eriksson's persistent left-side problems, it's just that Eriksson was not one of those leading the debate.

But there was Bridge almost putting Michael Owen in on goal with a neat side-foot pass in the ninth minute. Partnering Owen was Alan Smith, Emile Heskey having had to return to Merseyside so strained was his groin.

Eriksson's other big decision concerned Gareth Southgate, dropped for Sol Campbell. It had been expected that Jonathan Woodgate would be the centre-half to make way for Campbell.

But a theme had been set and Seaman unwittingly became the next personality involved in circumstances unforeseen. It has, of course, all happened before to Seaman and from Paris to Shizuoka. Just a few weeks ago Gareth Farrelly of Bolton inadvertently exposed Seaman again at Highbury in the manner of a Nayim or Ronaldinho with a floaty fluke from the left wing.

Last night, when Artim Sakiri lined up Macedonia's 12-minute corner, he unquestionably had more purpose than Farrelly, though whether Sakiri was trying to score is another matter. Eriksson had warned of Sakir's dead-ball activity on Tuesday so at least Seaman knew this was a talented individual.

The ball came screeching in from Sakiri's left foot and yet it was almost a slow-motion screech as it became apparent that Seaman was not going to get this cross. Smith was at the back post, but like Seaman and the rest of the stadium he was left flat-footed as the ball dipped in. Seaman must have been in agony.

Thankfully for him, England's lasted a mere two minutes. Scholes, operating more as a conventional central midfielder than the head of a diamond, collected the ball 40 yards out and clipped it forward to Beckham. With the Macedonia goalkeeper, Petar Milosevski, off his line Beckham produced the perfect lob.

England should have been steadied by that, but with Steven Gerrard enduring another bad night England kept ceding possession. Typical was Gerrard's 25th-minute flick in midfield that gave the ball straight to Sakiri. Within 10 seconds the ball was in Seaman's net again.

Sakiri had his shot limply booted out by Campbell and Vanco Trajanov beat Seaman from the edge of the area. 1-2.

Now this was a test. Owen, Scholes, Beckham and Smith all went close as England played some reasonable football, but it was another defensive error, this time in the Macedonia area, that led to England's second equaliser.

Scholes had volleyed back Beckham's cleared corner but the next volley was from Gerrard and it beat Milosevski easily.

There had to be more goals after the interval, we thought, but there was nearly yet another shock when it was Macedonia who came close to scoring the next one. Seaman actually made a useful save to deny Sakiri following Vanco Trajanov's exquisite pass.

Gerrard and Cole both went close as England responded, but then, worryingly, Gerrard departed on a stretcher. Nicky Butt went on and he was soon followed by Darius Vassell, joining Owen and Smith in a trident attack with the home boy Bridge removed.

It was, however, Woodgate who had a 70th-minute shot hoofed off the line by Robert Popov as England laboured for a breakthrough.

Afterwards, Eriksson remained typically composed. "We shall not start to cry yet," he said. "We were unlucky when they scored a couple of times. Both goals they scored were lucky and we were a bit unlucky.

"We didn't play badly. We should have won this and deserved to, but to win it you have to score more."

ENGLAND: Seaman, Neville, Campbell, Woodgate, Cole, Beckham, Gerrard (Butt 56), Scholes, Bridge (Vassell 59), Owen, Smith. Subs Not Used: Mills, James, Southgate, Hargreaves, Lampard. Sent Off: Smith (90). Booked: Beckham, Smith. Goals: Beckham 14, Gerrard 36.

FYR MACEDONIA: Petar Milosevski, Popov, Petrov, Sedloski, Vasoski, Sumulikoski, Trajanov (Stojanovski 90), Aleksander Mitrevski, Toleski (Pandev 62), Sakiri, Grozdanovski. Subs Not Used: Nikoloski, Grncarov, Vajs, Ignatov, Nacevski. Booked: Vasoski. Goals: Sakiri 11, Trajanov 25.