Middlesbrough, June 12: Captain Michael Owen marked his 50th cap with two goals as England recovered from a goal down to record a priceless 2-1 win over Slovakia in their Group Seven Euro 2004 qualifier. Slovakia took a deserved lead at the Riverside Stadium after 31 minutes on Wednesday (June 11) as Vladimir Janocko's free kick eluded his team mates and the entire England defence and slipped inside David James's left-hand post. Sven-Goran Eriksson's side, England, without suspended skipper David Beckham, looked a mess and could have been 3-0 down after two poor misses by Slovakia's strikers with the defence nowhere to be seen. Skipper Igor Demo shot wide from deep inside the box and Szilard Nemeth found the side-netting with only James to beat. But Owen earned a penalty after 62 minutes when he jinked into the area and was felled by Marian Zemen. Owen stepped up to make it 1-1 with a coolly taken spot kick. England thought they had gone ahead but Frank Lampard was apparently wrongly adjudged to have been offside when he turned Owen Hargreaves' shot in from a metre.


Owen's Liverpool team mate Steven Gerrard laid on a superb cross for the captain to head the winner in the 74th minute. The 23-year-old striker also hit the bar with another headed effort after Slovakian goalkeeper Miroslav Konig saved his low shot following Ashley Cole's pass.


The win kept England on the heels of group leaders Turkey, who have 15 points from six games after their 3-2 win over Macedonia earlier on Wednesday. Eriksson's side, who travel to Turkey in their final qualifier, have 13 points from five matches.


Teams: England: 1-David James; 2-Danny Mills (16-Owen Hargreaves 43), 6-Gareth Southgate, 5-Matthew Upson, 3-Ashley Cole; 4-Steven Gerrard, 11-Phil Neville, 8-Paul Scholes, 7-Frank Lampard; 9-Wayne Rooney (17-Darius Vassell 58), 10-Michael Owen.


Slovakia: 1-Miroslav Konig; 2-Martin Petras, 4-Marian Zeman, 7-Vladimir Labant (14-Ondrej Debnov 39), 3-Michal Hanek; 6-Igor Demo (15-Marek Mintal 55), 5-Radoslav Zabavnik, 9-Rastislav Michalik, 10-Vladimir Janocko; 11-Robert Vittek, 8-Szilard Nemeth (17-Lubos Reiter 75) Referee: Wolfgang Stark (Germany)


Group 7 standings: P W D L F A Pts 1. Turkey 6 5 0 1 14 5 15 2. England 5 4 1 0 10 4 13 3. Slovakia 6 2 0 4 8 8 6 4. Macedonia 6 1 2 3 9 11 5 5. Liechtenstein 5 0 1 4 2 15 1


Remaining matches: September 6 Liechtenstein v Turkey Macedonia v England September 10 England v Liechtenstein Slovakia v Macedonia October 11 Turkey v England Liechtenstein v Slovakia


Bureau Report