ITALY moved four points clear of England at the head of group two with a scrappy draw in Chorzow last night.

They underlined their tag as favourites to secure the section's only automatic place for the 1998 finals in France by enjoying more possession and showing more skill than the Poles.

Poland chased and harried the 1994 World Cup finalists, but never looked like breaching the Italian defence.

In a match of few clear cut chances Poland struggled to clear a Gianfranco Zola freekick, while their own, forwards lacked the creative skill to make anything of their swift counter attacks in the opening half hour.

Chelsea forward Zola, Italy's matchwinner at Wembley last month, also curled another freekick just over the bar from 25 yards.

But the first clear chance of the match fell to Poland's Borussia Monchengladbach ace, Andrzej Juskowiak, on the half hour.

Piotr Nowak skipped a tackle outside the area and unleashed a shot which took a deflection before falling at the feet of Juskowiak, only for his snap shot to fly narrowly wide of the far post.

Midfielder Marek Citko, Poland's scorer in their 2-1 defeat at Wembley last October, spurned another chance minutes later, ballooning his volley over the bar from just inside the area.

Marek Jozwiak then missed a header from point blank range after Angelo Peruzzi failed to hold a freekick from the left flank.

Italy's only serious effort on goal came from Christian Vieri just before the break, his powerful header from Angelo Di Livio's corner forcing Polish goalkeeper Andrzej Wozniak to tip the ball over.

The tense action continued in the second half with an early chance for Juskowiak. Ciro Ferrara's clearance cannoned off the Polish striker, giving him a free shot inside the area - but the effort skewed hopelessly wide.

Zola, Italy's most inspired player up front, forced a full stretch save from Wozniak after 65 minutes with a superb long range shot, while Diego Fuser later fired hopelessly wide despite having plenty of time.

Another hopeful Vieri effort, two minutes from time, flew yards off target as well.

Although Italy's strikers failed to make their mark in Poland, the result meant their defence have still not conceded a goal since Cesare Maldini took over from Arrigo Sacchi as coach four matches ago.

. The Dutch dropped their first points of the current World Cup campaign when they lost 1-0 to Turkey in a group seven qualifier last night.

Turkey's Hakan Sukur headed the only goal of the match past a helpless Edwin van der Sar in the 52nd minute.