Ashley Cole had another excellent game at both ends of the pitch. He went on a great run down the wing after good link-up with Heskey in the first half. But he delayed his cross a bit when he got to the goal-line and although he got close in the box had become crowded, his near post cross was the wrong option and was easy for the keeper.

Defensively, both he and Keown slipped once or twice in the first half, but Ferdinand did brilliantly to cover. But in the second half it was a mistake from Ferdinand which sliced the ball across our penalty area. It appeared to deflect off Cole's shoulder and fell for a Greek striker in space ont he left of the box, but Ashley leaped across to make an extraordinary flying block. That was possibly the second best tackle of the match, the best being Ashley's last-ditch challenge in the first half, one of those all-or-nothing penalty-begging jobs where you wrap a foot around and pray.

One slight downer - he got himself booked on 70 with an unnecessary foul tackle near the half-way line.

Keown did not have his best game ever, but for England's sake it was good to see the youngster Ferdinand dominating the central defensive position. As a unit, they and Seaman worked well and kept a clean sheet with few hairy moments (Dave had very little to do), and you can't ask a lot more than that at any level. There was an extremely dodgy free-kick which Greece hit into the wall, after Keown had been the victim of a dive worthy of Klinsmann himself.

The game was deservedly won, incidentally, with a Scholes poke-in halfway through the second half and a classic late free-kick from Beckham. The result keeps England's slim hopes of automatic qualification for next year's World Cup alive.

Germany are 6 points ahead but have played a game more. Goal-difference comes first if teams are level on points. So even if England can win the next game (in Germany) they'll still need to score plenty of goals in the remaining games against Albania aand Greece.

What of Ashley Cole? There was talk this week of Barcelona wanting to sign him. Clearly he's not ready for that, despite the incredible progress he's made in the last year. And of all our players he's possibly the one Arsenal fans would least like to see sold! How many wouldn't have him in the first few on the team sheet at the moment? (and that goes for England fans too). The real question, we have to hope, is: can Arsenal keep Silvinho happy?