England manager Hodgson

England will play three of their final four games at Wembley Stadium

“We’ve got to play Montenegro at home, so it’s in our hands,” Hodgson said. “We drew (1-1) at home to Ukraine (last September), which we didn’t want. But we’ve got three of our last four games at home. “We think it’s still in our hands and we intend to make sure we keep it in our hands by winning those matches.”  England odds on betting offers

“I don’t think we were particularly nervous,” he said. “We didn’t play as well as we could have in the second half, whether that was down to the fact we started playing less well or Montenegro started playing much better – that’s a debating point.

“There was no intention to lessen off in the second half. We wanted to carry on playing as we had in the first half, but it didn’t happen. My overall feeling is one of disappointment, because at half-time things were looking good for us and in the end, we’ve had to settle for a draw.”

Montenegro coach Brnovic

“It is possible that there was a penalty, but I don’t know if you’ve seen what Rooney did to (Vladimir) Volkov when he was scoring his goal,” he said.

Brnovic, who sent on Montenegro goal-scorer Dejan Damjanovic at half-time, had taunted England in the build-up to the game by claiming they were “more scared” about the fixture than his side.

He backtracked on his remarks slightly after the match, but was eager to emphasise the scale of his team’s achievements.

“To be honest, I exaggerated a bit before the game because I was slightly provoked, having heard some statements that I didn’t want to hear,” he said.

“But I’ll just say that we’ve been lucky enough to play England three times now without being defeated a single time. And to fight with England and fight for first place is something that not many people expected.”

www.fifa.com

Previous articleEngland manager Hodgson remains positive after draw for first place
Next articleGutierrez happy to provide defensive cover