Owen blow spoils England celebrations

Austria 0-1 England
Steve McClaren's side warmed up for their crucial Group E finale at home to Croatia at Wembley on Wednesday with a 1-0 win against the UEFA EURO 2008™ co-hosts at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion, though the triumph was overshadowed by news that Michael Owen could be out for a month.

Crouch strike
Peter Crouch scored what proved to be the only goal of the game on the stroke of half-time, rising highest to head in David Beckham's corner, and despite bright spells by Austria, the result was never really in doubt from then on. Instead it was injury that took centre stage as by then Owen had limped off with a thigh strain that rules him out of Wednesday's game.

Macho worry
Austria suffered injury woe of their own as Jürgen Macho was carried off after taking a blow to his head early on. He was replaced by former Arsenal FC man Alex Manninger, who was soon in the thick of it as Steven Gerrard and Crouch combined to set up Owen but the keeper was equal to his rising shot, tipping it over the crossbar. Owen joined Macho on the sidelines on 33 minutes though it did not curtail England's progress as Joe Cole was denied by Manninger and René Aufhauser blocked Crouch's follow-up before England made it third time lucky from the resulting corner as the Liverpool FC striker headed inside the post.

Austria blunted
Crouch nearly added his second just shy of the hour with another header, this time from substitute Ashley Young's cross, but Manninger palmed away the effort. Austria were restricted to a number of wayward long-range attempts as they tried to create an equaliser and will hope to be more productive when they host Tunisia on Wednesday in their next friendly as they prepare for next year's tournament. Should England seal a place there too, they will have to do so without Owen.