Owen is a diamond in the England rough

England - 2 Slovakia - 1 It took a change of heart to transform England. With the team lagging and their hopes of topping Group Seven in jeopardy, Sven-Goran Eriksson abandoned his preferences to recast the side in a 3-5-2 structure, which gave his men the authority for a fightback.

Michael Owen, winning his 50th cap, capitalised with his 21st and 22nd England goals. Despite the celebrations, this was still a night that must be pondered with concern by the English.

There was no Bratislava mud to blame this time and, on the Riverside's fine turf, England again found Ladislav Jurkemik's side alarming.

It takes a proper challenge to get the kinks out of a tactical system and Slovakia did not tremble at the sight of Eriksson's supposedly priceless diamond.

It was they who took the lead with a Vladimir Janocko free kick in the 31st minute that pained David James and also distributed embarrassment generously among the defenders in front of him.

Sometimes the unintentional threat is the hardest to counter and the midfielder, bending the ball in from a remote position on the left, imagined he was hitting a simple cross.

It cleared all the contenders and dropped past the straining left hand of James to reach the net at the far post. He must have seen the danger late and could have anticipated a clearance, but this sort of calamity would be blamed on age and decrepitude if David Seaman had been the man between the posts.

Different allegations will be made against the West Ham goalkeeper, but he will be under no illusions regarding the burdens he now carries.

He will be in distinguished company when it comes to fretting. England made a good impression spasmodically, but Slovakia were adapt at picking at the weaknesses in England's system.

The diamond pattern can leave an avenue open to attack the full backs and the visitors strolled down that path often enough for Eriksson to decide he could not wait for the interval to reorganise.

Danny Mills was replaced by Owen Hargreaves in the 43rd minute. The diamond went back in the jeweller's case.

England had every cause to be pensive and it was obvious, as the second half began, that Eriksson's rethink was radical. He erased his own ingrained preferences by ditching the back four, with the versatile Phil Neville being recast as a third centre half. Steven Gerrard took over the holding role in midfield.

The effect was to make England more secure as they dominated the centre of the pitch and enjoyed a base from which to apply sustained pressure. Slovakia could no longer break out with the same glee. All the same, Eriksson still felt the need to adjust his attack and introduced Darius Vassell for Wayne Rooney.

The breakthrough enraged Slovakia. With an hour gone, Marian Zeman was judged to have felled Owen although the visitors argued bitterly that the forward had been on his way down before any contact occurred.

Undistracted, the captain marked the half-century of caps by sending the goalkeeper the wrong way from 12 yards.

The equaliser came amid constant pressure that had seen Gerrard boldly sweeping round the defence before putting his attempted finish a little high. Lampard believed he had put England in front but was ruled offside as he touched in a Gareth Southgate shot.

Despite the angst, that incident simply allowed Owen to expand on the role of his country's saviour.

After 71 minutes, he dodged his markers to rise freely and head Gerrard's cross from the left crisply into the net.

A hat-trick appeared in the offing, but another header bounced off the bar after the keeper had blocked his initial attempt.

ENGLAND: James, Mills (Hargreaves 43), Upson, Southgate, Ashley Cole, Gerrard, Lampard, Scholes, Phil Neville, Rooney (Vassell 57), Owen. Subs Not Used: Robinson, Bridge, Terry, Joe Cole, Heskey. Goals: Owen 62 pen, 73.

SLOVAKIA: Konig, Petras, Zabavnik, Demo (Mintal 55), Hanek, Zeman, Vladimir Labant (Debnar 39), Janocko, Michalik, Nemeth (Reiter 75), Vittek. Subs Not Used: Rezeszoto, Karhan, Kisel, Kozlej. Booked: Hanek, Vittek, Debnar. Goals: Janocko 31.

Referee: W Stark (Germany).