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Beckham off as England edge to victory

08/10/2005

David Beckham has become the first man ever to be sent off twice for England as his side scraped to a 1-0 win over Austria at Old Trafford.

The Real Madrid midfielder saw red after picking up two second-half bookings in quick succession for consecutive fouls on Andreas Ibertsberger, although the England skipper looked hard done by.

But a first-half penalty from Frank Lampard was enough to earn Sven-Goran Eriksson's side the all-important three World Cup qualifying points, but they will have to improve their game significantly against Poland at the same ground on Wednesday.

Beckham will now be suspended for that game, however, while Arsenal defender Sol Campbell also looks set to miss the clash with the group six leaders after suffering another injury.

England started slowly in front of the 65,000 fans who turned up in Manchester but gradually got into the game as Charlton defender Luke Young and Newcastle striker Michael Owen both forced Jurgen Macho into good saves in the Austrian goal in the opening 20 minutes.

And they made the crucial breakthrough on 24 minutes when Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo pointed to the spot for what appeared a soft penalty as Michael Owen went to ground under the challenge of Paul Scharner.

In the ensuing protests two Austrian players were booked and skipper Andreas Ivanschitz will now miss Wednesday's clash with Northern Ireland as a result.

Before the game Eriksson revealed that penalty-taking duties had been transferred from Beckham to Lampard and the Chelsea man duly stepped up to face Macho, firing it perfectly into the former Sunderland keeper's right-hand corner.

Peter Crouch had the opportunity to double the lead on his competitive debut minutes later as he found himself in acres of space in the Austrian area, but he was unable to get enough power on the header to beat Macho.

England had another, arguably stronger, penalty shout shortly before the break when Owen was again on the wrong end of an Austrian challenge in the area, this time by Andreas Dober, but the home protests were waved away.

Austria came out after the interval in more determined mood and Young needed to make a well-timed tackle to deny half-time substitute Yuksal Sariyar, before Roland Linz almost shocked the Manchester crowd after lofting the ball against the England crossbar with Paul Robinson beaten.

Beckham was booked on 57 minutes for what was construed by the official as a raised arm against Ibertsberger and then received a second caution moments later when the same player tumbled to the ground on the edge of the area.

Replays suggest the Austrian dived to the floor under minimal contact by the England captain.

Things got even worse for Eriksson and his men shortly after the hour mark as Campbell pulled up with what appeared to be a hamstring injury and was forced to leave the field to be replaced by Rio Ferdinand, who had earlier been left on the bench in favour of the returning Arsenal defender.

Following the two forced departures, as well as the arrival of Ledley King and Kieron Richardson in place of Joe Cole and Owen, England struggled to retain their shape and were left hanging on to the three points as Austria began to force their hosts back.

After the relief of the final whistle a disconsolate-looking Eriksson left the pitch with boos again ringing in his ears and he will be desperate for his players to deliver the goods in four days' time.

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