Neville: Seaman's still number one

Gary Neville has leapt to David Seaman's defence and insisted: "He is still England's number one."

Seaman has come in for blame for Macedonia's first goal in the shock 2-2 Euro 2004 qualifying draw with England at St Mary's.

The veteran Arsenal star was completely deceived by an inswinging corner from Macedonia's Artim Sakiri for the opening goal.

That led to Seaman having an unhappy time from the 32,000 crowd for the remainder of the game and he looked far from convincing.

But Neville insisted that the 39-year-old is still the cream of the crop in England and should continue to be Sven-Goran Eriksson's first choice.

He said: "I have never seen a strike from a corner in my life like the one from which they scored their first goal. It was in the back of the net before anyone could even blink.

"I certainly wouldn't put any blame on David Seaman or any goalkeeper for that. The ball was whipped in with more pace and accuracy than I have ever experienced in my career before.

"David Seaman has been a stalwart for England - and will continue to be so. He's England's number one goalkeeper and the best goalkeeper in England in all the time that I've played with my country.

"He's been absolutely outstanding and I would expect him to carry on because he is the best goalkeeper."

Neville admitted that England were disappointed to drop two points but he is refusing to write off their hopes of automatic qualification for the 2004 finals in Portugal.

He said: "We are obviously disappointed because we should have won the game. It was not the result we wanted and everyone will go home disappointed.

"There is a long way to go still so we shouldn't be too disheartened. We've been in this position before where we've dropped points early on in the group and have come through and qualified."