Stubborn England hold France to draw

Hit by injuries and missing the suspended Wayne Rooney, England upset many predictions by taking the lead as Joleon Lescott buried a close-range header on the half-hour. Hodgson had himself sprung a surprise by naming Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in his starting XI, but it was Nasri, briefly the Arsenal FC man's team-mate, who rounded off the evening's scoring close to half-time to leave these old rivals with a point apiece.

England went agonisingly close after 15 minutes when James Milner latched onto Ashley Young's pass and rounded Hugo Lloris, but he then slipped slightly as he shot and could only steer the ball wide of the unguarded net.

Nasri had shot wide just before that chance and Yohan Cabaye was the next Frenchman to try his luck but Joe Hart got down well to keep out his shot.

And England then got the breakthrough on the half-hour when Gerrard whipped over a lovely free-kick from the right and Lescott got in behind Alou Diarra to head home from close range.

France almost responded quickly but Hart did well to keep out a thumping header from Diarra, who then nodded wide when the ball came back into the middle.

But the French did level when Franck Ribery laid the ball back to Nasri (39) and his precise shot from just outside the area sneaked inside Hart's right-hand post.

The second-half began fairly quietly until Karim Benzema tested Hart with a powerful shot from distance and Glen Johnson blazed an effort over the bar soon afterwards.

Hart then had to be alert to keep out a Ribery drive at his near post and England decided to freshen things up with the introduction of Jermain Defoe and Jordan Henderson.

France came closest to a winner, Cabaye unleashing a fierce volley which deflected off Danny Welbeck and flew just wide, before Hart blocked Benzema's long-range shot in the final seconds.