KEIR RADNEDGE at WEMBLEY —- Part Three of Lee Carsley’s audition to succeed Gareth Southgate’s proved a nightmare as England lost 2-1 in the UEFA Nations League tie to a Greek side who claimed their first win in 10 attempts against the Three Lions.

The Greek players dedicated their victory to the memory of George Baldock, the English-born Panathinaikos defender who died in what appeared to have been an accident at his home in southern Athens on Tuesday.

England thought they had rescued a draw with a late equaliser from Jude Bellingham but the Greeks raced forward on the break and Vangelis Pavilidis punished defensive chaos with the winning goal, his own second of the night. Several of their players were in tears as they celebrated – and mourned – with their emotional fans at the final whistle.

For Carsley, England’s interim boss, defeat alone will have been depressing enough without the knowledge that his match plan proved utterly defective. But to put all the blame on England’s failings would be unfair to a Greek team whose discipline and commitment was especially admirable in the circumstances.

Their reward was to go top of Nations League B, group two.

Carsley, having won his opening two ties, put his faith in the sort of attacking set-up which would have been anathema to Southgate. That meant starts for all of Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Bukayo Saka.

Captain Harry Kane, nursing a leg injury suffered playing for Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga at the weekend, was on the bench along with Dominic Solanke and Ollie Watkins, his obvious orthodox deputies.

Italian referee Andrea Colombo ordered up a minute’s silence before kickoff in memory of Baldock, the former Sheffield United fullback, before a dramatic start to the match action.

Bellingham had a drive tipped over the bar by keeper Odysseas Vlachodimos before Jordan Pickford lost possession outside his penalty box and only a remarkable goal-line clearance by Levi Colwill saved the day for England.

Goal ruled out

Greece claimed a goal in vain and then did so again two minutes later when West Ham’s Konstantinos Mavropanos headed into the net only to be denied because of a foul, one of five occasions on which they out the ball in the net though only two were legal.

Pickford did manage to save the day with a scrambling near-post block when England were caught on the counter attack by captain Tasos Bakesetas before play swung to the other end where Palmer blasted an excellent opportunity high over the bar.

England went in at the break still apparently bewildered by their own selection and tactic – Bellingham looking utterly lost – while Greece could congratulate themselves for being a constant danger on the counter.

Three minutes into the second half they gained their deserved reward. Konstantinos Kuleirakis fed centre-forward Vangelis Pavlidis who threaded a path forward, took advantage of a ricochet off the heel of John Stones and shot beneath the diving Pickford.

Carsley brought on Noni Madeuke for the injured Saka and then Watkins for Gordon, an admission that his brave experiment had flopped.

Subsitutions

Watkins almost made an instant impact with a drive which sailed over the bar before he was joined up front by a second spearhead in Solanke. Yet the substitutions and formation switches – even the fulbacks swapped flanks – only added to the sense of a team with no plan or understanding of whatever plan it was supposed to be.

Greece continued to work and run and cover superbly and only VAR saved England from conceding what Pavlidis thought was his, and his team’s, second goal.

That decision almost proved crucial. England stumbled forward, Watkins found space on the right, cut the ball back across the penalty box and Bellingham thundered home a rising drive to equalise with his first goal of the season. England, it seemed, had got out of jail.

However Greece, undaunted, had other ideas. They refused to shut up shop in contentment at the draw, raced forward once more, and were rewarded when the ball squeezed out off the feet of Rico Lewis so that Pavlidis could strike for glory amid the grief.

The teams

England: Pickford, Alexander-Arnold, Stones, Colwill, Lewis – Palmer, Rice, Foden (Solanke 72)- Saka (Madueke 51), Bellingham, Gordon (Watkins 60).

Greece: Vlachodimos – Rota, Mavropanos, Koulierakis, Giannoulis – Siopis (Zafeiris 66), Kourbelis (Mantolas 73) – Masouras (Pelkas 66), Bakasetas (Vagiannidis 86), Tzolis (Konstantelias 86) – Pavlidis.

Referee: Colombo (It). Att: 71,000.

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