A last minute goal from Joe Cole rescued a draw for England against the Czech Republic at Wembley.

ENGLAND

James: 5.0 – A good save from Baros early on but had no chance with the goal because of the deflection. Went AWOL in the second half when he came racing out of his area only to be beaten by Sverkos. Must give his defenders nightmares at times.

Brown: 7.0 - Beaten a little too easily by Sirl, who then passed for Baros to open the scoring. However, he scored an excellent header to equalise, for his first England goal, and attempted to get forward whenever he could.

A Cole: 6.0 - Unfortunately for Cole, Baros’s shot cannoned off the Chelsea man for the first goal. Got forward well to provide width but usually had to turn back and stall due to lack of options in the box.

Ferdinand:  6.0 – A solid performance by Ferdinand who must have been disappointed to lose the captaincy to Terry.

Terry: 5.0 – Terry must shoulder the blame for the first goal. Was turned far too easily by Baros, and not a captain’s performance.

Beckham: 6.5 – His set pieces weren’t up to their usual standards but he did manage to find one delicious corner from which Brown equalised. Offered little else, but once again provided an assist.

Barry: 5.0 - Early booking after a foul on Plasil was possibly his most notable contribution and the Villa man certainly didn’t look worth £18 million.

Lampard: 4.0 - A poor performance and Frank was booed off by a frustrated Wembley crowd. Gave the ball away, made some poor challenges and generally struggled to get involved.

Gerrard: 6.5 - Saw plenty of the ball and was one of England’s better performers but found himself stuck out on the left, in a position he really doesn’t favour. A decent shot tested Cech in the first half but left midfield is simply not his most best position.

Defoe: 6.0 - A tough night for the Portsmouth striker.  Looked a little lonesome up front at times but worked hard to find shooting positions and forced Cech into several good saves.

Rooney: 6.0 – Looked to get involved but was too often far too deep and despite some decent distribution never looked like scoring.

Substitutions

Heskey: 6.0 - Given the second half in place of Defoe and held the ball up well but that was about it from the big man.

Woodgate: 6.0 - Replaced Ferdinand but is unlikely to oust the Manchester United man from the starting lineup.

Joe Cole: 7.0 - Unlucky not to start and England missed his flair. Looked bright when he came on and managed to poke the ball home for a late equaliser.

Downing: 6.5 - He added balance and managed to put some balls into the box which may not sound much, but just goes to show how dismal England were.

Bentley: 6.5 - Replaced Beckham late on and it was from his corner that England managed to sneak a late goal.

Jenas: n/a

CZECH REPUBLIC

Cech: 6.5 - Relatively untroubled by England’s shooting and had little chance with either goal. Occasionally shaky handling and he flapped at a corner, but then again on a wet pitch and with a greasy ball, perhaps not to be unexpected.

Jankulovski: 7.5 - Simply sublime free kick to put the Czechs 2-1 up and was almost good enough to win the game for the visitors.

Rozehnal: 7.0 - An easy night really although he made a meal of it with some poor clearances, but still England couldn’t capitalise.

Ujfalusi: 6.5 – Uncharacteristically sloppy at times A poor challenge on Gerrard, almost gave away a penalty and he was beaten by Brown for the equaliser. Still, kept what little attacking threat there was in check.

Grygera: 7.0 – Only played the first half but had a comfortable evening and it’s doubtful he even broke into a sweat.

Vlcek: 6.5 - Looked a danger on the right flank but was replaced at half time.

Kovac: 7.5 - Slipped some great short balls through the England midfield up to his front men.

Polak: 8.5 - An classy display by the man of the match. Strong shot early in the second half almost put the Czechs back in the lead and left England chasing shadows in midfield.

Plasil: 8.0 – Played some neat balls up to Baros and a great midfield display, thoroughly outplaying his opponents.

Sirl: 7.5 – A lovely run to set up the first goal. Out-foxed Brown completely before finding his man Baros in the box.

Baros: 7.0 - Tested David James early on with a good shot that the England goalkeeper did well to keep out. Scored, via a deflection, but did well to turn captain John Terry and hit the shot which opened the scoring.

Substitutions

Pospech: 6.5 - Given the second half in place of Grygera and the full back slotted in well.

Jarolim:  7.0 – Came on at half time and helped maintain the visitors’ midfield superiority.

Sverkos: 6.5 - Replaced the goalscorer Baros at half time and looked bright. Almost embarrassed England by rounding James on the touch line but rushed his shot and missed.

Kadlac: n/a – A late substitute for the Czechs

Rajnoch: n/a - A late substitute for the Czechs

Ref From Gill Clark - goal.com

Gabriel Agbonlahor hit a stunning seven-minute hat-trick as Aston Villa’s late show tore Manchester City apart.

Villa had taken the lead when John Carew nodded home Ashley Young’s cross.

Elano levelled from the spot after Michael Johnson was fouled but Villa were quickly back in front when Carew’s knockdown was fired in by Agbonlahor.

Agbonlahor met Gareth Barry’s cross to make it 3-1 then ran on to a slide-rule Barry pass to complete his treble before Vedran Corluka’s consolation.

It had already been a traumatic week for City, with the turmoil surrounding the charges that their owner Thaksin Shinawatra faces in Thailand compounded by a shock home defeat by Danish side FC Midtjylland in the Uefa Cup.

And things did not get any better for manager Mark Hughes when Bulgarian forward Valeri Bojinov - set for his first start after a year on the sidelines - was injured in the warm-up at Villa Park.

That meant Hughes, who has a dearth of available strikers, had to bring in Welsh teenager Ched Evans as a last-minute replacement to make his league debut for City.

Evans tried his best on his own up front but, especially in the early stages, most of the action was taking place at the other end of the pitch.

Villa had come through their own midweek European test against Scandinavian opposition with flying colours, thumping FH Hafnarfjordur 4-1, and they picked up here where they left off in Iceland, creating a raft of early chances.

Only poor finishing let Martin O’Neill’s side down, with Carew sending a glancing header wide before further tame efforts that failed to seriously test Joe Hart.

Barry should also have done better in front of goal; wasting a decent knockdown from Carew by handling on the edge of the six-yard box, then somehow firing wide when he met a Nigel Reo-Coker cross at the far post.

But City survived and, once Gelson Fernandes and Michael Johnson had established a base in midfield, prospered.

Micah Richards still had to make an acrobatic clearance to deny Gabriel Agbonlahor, who was waiting to convert a Stilian Petrov cross, but it was City who finished the half the stronger.

That improvement counted for nothing at the start of the second half, however, when Kelvin Etuhu’s mistake gifted Villa the lead in the 47th minute.

He gave the ball softly to Young, who exchanged passes with Barry before crossing to the far post for Carew to head home.

City responded with their best spell of the game that saw Javier Garrido’s rasping shot deflected wide and Martin Petrov’s volley scorch the side-netting.

The visitors kept coming forward and were rewarded after 64 minutes when Johnson broke into the box and evaded Luke Young and Nicky Shorey before eventually being felled by Young.

Referee Phil Dowd pointed to the spot and Elano stepped up to nonchalantly stroke the ball home.

City now looked the more likely winners but Agbonlahor had other ideas.

He beat Fernandes to Carew’s header to restore his side’s lead on 69 minutes and had soon sealed the victory.

The visitors’ defence was nowhere to be seen as he leapt to direct Barry’s clipped cross into the net and the same two players combined again to make it 4-1 - Agbonlahor running clear to fire past Hart.

City, to their credit, kept going and substitute Daniel Sturridge brought a fine save from Brad Friedel before Corluka tapped home late on to make the scoreline a little less painful for Hughes’ men.

Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill:
“I am delighted. It was a big victory for us and we played particularly well going forward.

“I was disappointed that we were not ahead at half-time but we had a great second-half.

“It was as important for us to stay tight defensively but I knew that we would create things in attack.”

Manchester City boss Mark Hughes:
“We were very much in the game when we levelled and we could have gone on from there and won it.

“We had conceded early on in the second half but we showed good character to come back.

“But then we had 10 minutes of madness. We made some bad decisions at the back and stopped defending set-plays - and you cannot afford to do that against Villa.”

Aston Villa: Friedel, Luke Young, Davies, Laursen, Shorey, Reo-Coker, Petrov, Barry, Ashley Young, Agbonlahor, Carew.
Subs Not Used: Taylor, Harewood, Knight, Salifou, Routledge, Gardner, Osbourne.

Goals: Carew 47, Agbonlahor 69, 74, 76.

Man City: Hart, Corluka, Richards, Ben-Haim, Garrido, Etuhu, Gelson (Ireland 81), Johnson, Petrov, Elano, Evans (Sturridge 81).
Subs Not Used: Schmeichel, Michael Ball, Onuoha, Caicedo, Hamann.

Booked: Ben-Haim.

Goals: Elano 64 pen, Corluka 89.

Att: 39,955

Ref: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire).

Ref From BBC SPORT By Chris Bevan