A lacklustre England display resulted in just one shot on goal in the first half, a weak injury time effort by Wayne Rooney that was straight at the keeper Mladen Bozović. “We created four to five chances,” said England Manager Fabio Capello. “Other times keeper was good. The keeper was the best player of Montenegro. This is football. You have to respect little countries sometimes have good players. They are psychologically really atrong after three games.”

Peter Crouch, starting in place of the injured Daren Bent, and club colleague Jermain Defoe had the best chance of the first half, but headed Glen Johnson's cross just over  Bozović's crossbar. Capello's Man of the Match was not tested in the first 45 minutes, but earned his plaudits in the second half with at least two fantastic saves.

Kevin Davies was given just ovr twenty minutes to make an impact, replacing Crouch. He almost made an immediate impact, setting up Rooney for a close-range effort that was superbly parried by Bozović with a firm right-hand. “Our goalkeeper Mladen Bozović had very good game,” said Kranjčar. “I don't think England under-estimated us. They controlled tempo. They were very prepared. I think anyone would agree we put on a great performance here at Wembley. We had a plan – how to avoid defeat and we perfectly made the plan work. I don't consider it a miracle. We are close to qualification, but there are still a lot of games to play.  [The] result exceeds our expectations.”

He still considered England to be the favourites for the group, but had not ruled out the possibility of finishing top of the group. Four minutes after Bozović's save hecould and perhaps should have been called into action again. “Don't like to speak about the referee, but the linesman,” said Capello. “I don't like to speak about.” Capello thought it was a penalty and he was right.

Milan Jovanović thrust his chest at Ashley Cole's cross, but controlled it with his upper arm. Assistant referee Markus Häcker should have helped Manuel Gräfe out by informing him that it was a penalty.  Kranjčar disagreed. “Penalty was pure referee's call,” he said. “I don't think it was intentional. I believe my team has quality to beat big opponents.”

Jovanović almostadded insult to injury with a dipping 25-yard volley that gave Joe Hart no chance, but was denied by the crossbar in the 84th minute. The Montenegrins resolutely clung on to the point they had fought hard for and celebrated. The match statistics – just four shots on goal and nine bookings, some for agricultural challenges told part of the story. The rest was a well thought out plan that was executed well, leaving Montenegro proudly perched at the top of the group – deservedly.