Boost for England

Press, 31 May 1982, Page 20

Boost for England

NZPA-Reuter Glasgow England travel (o Spain as British champions after beating their fellow World Soccer Cup finalists, Scotland, 1-0 in the centenary match between the two old rivals at Hampden Park in Glasgow yesterday. While the English will approach their last World Cup warm-up match with Finland on Thursday in confident mood after five successive wins without conceding a goal, the Scottish manager

Mr Jock Stein, will take his squad to a Portuguese training camp 24 hours later worried by his side’s lack of commitment. If nothing else, the Scots always run themselves into the ground when they tackle England. But yesterday there was a disturbing lack of passion about their play. England, who play France, Czechoslovakia, and Kuwait in group four in Spain, let the Scots come at them for most of the game after taking an early lead. But Scot-

tish attacks foundered all too easily in the face of a wellmarshalled defence. In contrast, the home defence never looked happy when Ipswich striker, Paul Mariner was around the box. He scored the only goal in the thirteenth minute, heading home from close in after a Terry Butcher header had come back off the bar. FINAL STANDINGS:

P W D L Pt England 3 3 0 0 6 Scotland 3 1 1 1 2 Wales 3 1 0 2 2 N. Ireland 3 0 1 2 1