Lampard rescues England against Ukraine

Three minutes from a first competitive home defeat in nearly five years, England salvaged a 1-1 draw against Ukraine thanks to Frank Lampard's penalty.

Roy Hodgson's side, 5-0 victors over Moldova on Friday, beat co-hosts Ukraine 1-0 at UEFA EURO 2012 less than three months ago. They looked like losing to Yevhen Konoplyanka's splendid effort this time around, however, until Lampard's late intervention though there was still time for Steven Gerrard to be dismissed.

Oleh Blokhin's team would have been in front inside 15 minutes had it not been for Gerrard's defiant block to deny Ruslan Rota on the line. Denys Garmash went close too with an awkward volley on the half-hour, but it was England who then had seemingly the best chance of the half. Jermain Defoe headed Gerrard's pass across goal and Tom Cleverley contrived to scuff straight into Andriy Pyatov.

Konoplyanka soon made the Manchester United FC midfielder pay with a sumptuous 25-metre shot into Joe Hart's top left-hand corner. Cleverley almost drew England level on two occasions before the break, though, firstly pulling the ball wide from Lampard's fine cutback before then striking a post after jinking free in the area.

The hosts huffed and puffed after the break and very nearly clawed themselves level midway through the second half, but Glen Johnson's low shot went agonisingly wide. Substitute Danny Welbeck went even closer with eight minutes remaining, the United striker toe-poking against the woodwork from close range.

Roman Zozulya then almost doubled the visitors' lead at the other end, but Lampard's fearsome spot kick salvaged a point for England, who lost their captain to a second yellow card with two minutes left.