Rooney gets England over the line

But the Ukrainians will feel mightily hard done by as they crashed out of the tournament, having played England off the park for 45 minutes and then having a perfectly good goal ruled out incorrectly.

A draw would not have been enough to keep them in the competition, but you had to feel for the host country. When John Terry hooked a shot from Marko Devic off the line in the 62nd minute, it was clearly over the line but the referee’s assistant, positioned barely five yards away on the goalline, did not give it and Michel Platini’s plans to resist goalline technology took another body blow.

Roy Hodgson and his men will care little. They suffered a similar fate when the officials made a similar mistake after Frank Lampard looked to have scored in the World Cup against Germany two years ago.

And they avoided Spain in the quarter-finals, with France’s 2-0 defeat to Sweden meaning England will instead face Group C runners-up Italy in Kiev on Sunday.

But captain Steven Gerrard brushed aside suggestions England would be overjoyed at playing Italy instead of the world and European champions, saying: “Italy are next, they’ve got match-winners and we have to give them respect,” he said. “And if we do well in the next game we might play Spain again in the competition.”

But it was a far from comfortable night for Hodgson and his men. They expected Ukraine to go for it — they had nothing to lose, after all, but few can have anticipated quite how intense a bombardment the hosts would launch.

Ukraine went at England with speed, skill and a purpose made all the more frenetic by the fevered support of their fans.

The Donbass Arena was a sea of blue and yellow, save for a corner of England fans, and the Ukranians roared their team on as they ripped into England despite the absence of Andriy Shevchenko.

Yevhen Konoplyanka cut in to shoot over from long range, Denys Garmash went close with a 30-yarder, and Terry had to charge across for a vital interception. It was exhilarating stuff. While the defence were occupied fully, England’s midfielders had to work overtime, with the outstanding Gerrard charging here, there and everywhere, while Scott Parker was equally omnipresent.

England could hardly get out of their own half for the first 25 minutes or so, yet they should have taken the lead in the 28th minute. Terry hit a diagonal ball to Ashley Young, restored to the left, and the Manchester United winger’s cross picked out his team-mate Rooney unmarked six yards from goal. Incredibly Rooney missed.

Ukraine hit back quickly, Andriy Yarmalenko forcing Joe Hart into a smart save low to his right.

Half-time must have been a blessed relief for England, allowing them some breathing space and giving Hodgson a chance to rally his troops, and sure enough they took the lead within three minutes of the restart. Gerrard was the architect, crossing superbly after his initial corner had been headed clear. His whipped cross from the right went through the legs of one defender and Danny Welbeck’s toe-touch did enough to put off keeper Andriy Pyatov, who could only flip the ball up and on to the head of Rooney, who could not miss this time from barely a yard out.

Suddenly the home crowd was silenced, with England’s supporters now making themselves heard, and their volume went up a notch when the news filtered through that Sweden were beating France in Kiev.

Pyatov partly redeemed himself with a superb save from Ashley Cole’s volley, and Rooney ran out of legs as he led a quick counter-attack, showing more than a hint of ring-rust.

Ukraine still would not give up, with Oleg Gusev hitting the woodwork with a deep cross, Milevsky heading over before the moment that will bereplayed over and over again as an argument for the introduction of goalline technology.

Terry did superbly well to hook the ball away after Hart parried Devic’s shot, but TV replays showed it was over the line and the assistant referee should have spotted it.

Hodgson admitted his side had caught a break. “When we needed a bit of luck, when the ball may have crossed the line, we got a bit of luck and went on to win the match,” he said.

Injustice burned in the Ukrainians, who found their purpose again as Shevchenko was introduced as substitute.

Hart did well to keep out a stinging long-range shot from Konoplyanka and Joleon Lescott cleared the danger. England played out the final 20 minutes with no real scares.

Belief is growing in this squad, however, a feeling emphasised by Rooney. “We know our qualities and what we’re capable of. We’ve worked hard, done a lot of tactical play in training,” said the match-winner.

“We’re difficult to beat and I don’t think any team will fancy playing us.”

Subs for England: Walcott for Milner 70, Carroll for Welbeck 85, Oxlade-Chamberlain for Rooney 86.

Subs for Ukraine: Shevchenko for Devic 70, Butko for Milevskiy 77, Nazarenko for Garmash 78.