It was all going so well. In the first half, at least. England were dominant, offensive and creative- a 1 - 0 lead at half time was well deserved. It seemed that England were cruising to a pretty easy victory at the Podgorica City Stadium.
Then what happened? Half time happened.
The lacklustre Montenegro side that looked easily beatable came out for the second half with fire in their bellies. They put England under plenty of pressure and saw many chances go begging- until they finally scored with 15 minutes to go.
After the equaliser, both teams went searching for a late winner. Steven Gerard saw two late efforts turned away by the Montenegro keeper. The game finished at 1 - 1.
England's chances of qualfying as Group H winners now hang in the balance. They now have four games left of qualification, three of which are at home- however, they will not play another competitive game until September.
It looks like, in order to secure qualification ahead of Montenegro, they will need to win all of their remaining games. One of the games at Wembley will be against last night's opponent- a crunch tie, if you have ever seen one.
Despite the unconvincing second half display and result, Roy Hodgson is adamant England's fate is still in our hands. The England manager said, "It's still in our hands - we have to play Montenegro at home, Poland at home and Ukraine away.
"We have three of our four games at home, so we will try to make certain we keep it in our hands by winning those."
What England do in those final fixtures remains to be seen.
