England 3-2 Scotland: Lambert Heads Debut Winner

Rickie Lambert marked his England debut in the grand manner with a clinical second half header to beat Scotland in a thrilling international friendly at Wembley.

Lambert netted with his first touch after 70 minutes to gift Roy Hodgson's side a victory which will work as perfect preparation for the World Cup qualifying double-header against Moldova and Ukraine next month.

James Morison and Kenny Miller had twice given an impressive Scotland the lead either side of half time, after Theo Walcott had levelled on the half hour.

Danny Welbeck headed England level four minutes after Miller struck but it was left to Lambert to crown his international bow with a stinging header.

The blue-ribbon fixture of The Football Association's 150<sup>th anniversary celebrations saw Scotland travel to Wembley for the first time for 14 years looking for their ninth win on English soil in yet another installment of international football's oldest fixture.

An estimated 20,000 Scottish fans packed into Wembley and their loyalty was rewarded after just 11 minutes when a corner was cleared only as far as Morrison who lashed the ball towards goal and benefitted from an error from Joe Hart to give the visitors the lead.

England were meanwhile failing to play with any sort of rhythm with Gordon Strachan's side happy to put 10 men behind the ball and play on the counter-attack through Miller.

Tom Cleverley did force a save out of Allan McGregor after Wayne Rooney's lay-off but the Manchester United midfield made a more telling contribution when he played in Walcott, who turned inside Steven Whittaker and hammered low past McGregor.

The half-time break saw just one change as Frank Lampard replaced Jack Wilshere, a sign of both sides' intent on winning the game.

And Scotland took a giant step towards staging an upset as Miller reined in Alan Hutton's cross, turned Gary Cahill brilliantly before firing past a despairing Hart.

McGregor saved brilliantly from a flighted Steven Gerrard free-kick but the skipper's next involvement brought England level as Welbeck headed home unmarked.

Gerrard and Rooney were replaced by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lambert, who was making his international debut, and the Southampton striker took just three minutes to open his England account with a bullet header to complete the second half comeback.

The unerring accuracy and instinctive finish of Lambert, who also struck the post late on, will silence critics who questioned the call-up of the ex-Bristol Rovers and Rochdale forward in a year where Hodgson will begin formulating his squad for next year's World Cup.