Terry atones to give England win

By Kevin Fylan

BERLIN (Reuters) - John Terry atoned for his part in a dreadful mix-up to score a late header and give England a 2-1 win over old rivals Germany in an enterprising friendly on Wednesday.

England moved ahead midway through the first half at the Olympiastadion when German goalkeeper Rene Adler missed an attempted punch from a corner, leaving defender Matthew Upson to prod the ball home.

The visitors should have made it 2-0 when Darren Bent rounded substitute keeper Tim Wiese to be through on goal in the second half but the striker slipped and shot wide. Moments later the home side were level.

Terry chose to shepherd the ball back towards England's replacement keeper Scott Carson, who hesitated and allowed Patrick Helmes to nip in and help himself to an equaliser.

Captain Terry made amends when he headed in from a Stewart Downing free kick with six minutes to go.

"England weren't just a little better they were simply better," Germany coach Joachim Loew told German TV. "All in all we deserved to lose."

LACK OF CLASS

England were missing half a dozen or more of their best players, including Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney, while Germany were without Michael Ballack, Torsten Frings and Philipp Lahm and the lack of quality showed.