England 0 Scotland 1

England win 2-1 on aggregate

Scotland won this game easily - but lost the tie.

The 2-0 deficit from the first game on Saturday proved too great a hurdle for Craig Brown's team who gave England a football lesson as they won the last ever competitive fixture at Wembley's famous old venue.

For much of the game after Don Hutchison's 39th minute headed goal it looked as if the Scots could at least bring England to the brink of defeat with extra time but it was not to be.

England barely escaped th group stage to make this play-off and it was easy to see why Kevin Keegan's side have been relying on good turns from others with this dismal display.

It was not an easy position for the English to be in. They started the game with a two goal advantage and knew they should be able to hold out. In the end they were hanging on in the grim survival battle that Euro 2000 has been for so long. Scotland passed them into the ground and showed all the good attacking ideas. England had relied on luck to get them through the first leg but few thought they were going to be so poor at their own home ground.

Scotland started well and just got better as the English seemed to practice an old German trick of losing the game play like dogs but somehow getting through to fight for bigger prizes.

Scottish pressure was only answered in the first half by a snap shot from the edge of the box from Paul Scholes but other than that the English could find nothing in attack as the neat passing and better balance of the visiting side shot bolts of football right through the sloppy English players.

Pressure mounted on the English goal as Billy Dodds and John Collins marked the half hour with shots that twisted wide of the target.

Neil McCann set up an earlier chance but Barry Ferguson sent a header over the bar in a move that would be repeated for th goal. McCann hit a ball into the back of the six yard area from wide on the left and Don Hutchison rose to head back across the goal and into the far corner.

Scotland deserved more as England's midfield and attack surrendered in the face of better technique and tactics.

Alan Shearer summed up the night for his side when he ran through on goal in the 52nd minute to sky his chance high over the bar. The only other threat came from a Michael Owen turn in the 60th minute that the excellent Collins blocked with a diving tackle before any shot could be released.

Defender Christian Dailly almost brought down the wrath of extra time on the outplayed English when he dived to meet a header in the 79th minute. David Seaman's reflexes responded with the ball aimed right at him and palmed the danger away.

England now live to compete in the summer but this display indicates only agony to come next year while Scotland know they have won a famous victory that got them precisely nowhere.