Midfielder Gerrard a victim of substitution blunder

VIENNA: England midfielder Steven Gerrard added to his team’s World Cup misery by admitting that his substitution in the 2-2 draw here with Austria here on Saturday was a case of mistaken identity.  

The Liverpool star, who had scored the second goal to put Sven-Goran Eriksson’s men 2-0 ahead, had signalled to the bench that Wayne Bridge was hurt and needed to be changed.  

However the bench thought Gerrard was feeling the groin injury which almost ruled him out of the Group Six match and took him off instead in the 82nd minute to be replaced by club teammate Jamie Carragher. 

“Wayne had a kick on his Achilles and I signalled to the bench that he needed to be taken off but they took me off instead,” said Gerrard. 

“It was one of those things. You can’t do anything about it.” 

England were in control of the match until the dying stages when they led 2-0 thanks to Frank Lampard’s 24th minute goal and Gerrard’s wonderful 64th minute volley.  

But Austrian substitute Roland Kollmann pulled one back after 71 minutes before skipper Andreas Ivanschitz equalised two minutes later when England keeper David James fumbled his long-range drive and allowed the ball to slip beneath his body.  

“We dominated for 70 minutes and then were all over the place for 20,” said Gerrard.  

“We will have to look at the tapes. It’s hard to put your finger on what went wrong because we were in control.” – AFP