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Poland plunder late victory

Wednesday, 30 March 2005

[1] A late Maciej Zurawski header salvaged a victory for Poland in Warsaw which kept the pressure on FIFA World Cup Group 6 leaders England.

Taylor heroics

[2] The Wisla Kraków striker converted a Miroslaw Szymkowiak cross with less than five minutes remaining to finally break the deadlock and deny the visitors a point. Lawrie Sanchez's side had defended resolutely throughout with Birmingham City FC goalkeeper Maik Taylor, who conceded four in Saturday's defeat by England, making a string of superb saves.

Davis return

[3] Sanchez made three changes to the side that lost at Old Trafford, Mark Williams coming into defence while midfield player Steven Davis was recalled in place of the suspended Damien Johnson and James Quinn returned from his own ban to partner David Healy in attack.

Sobolewski on bench

[4] Poland were on the other end of an even more emphatic scoreline at the weekend - an 8-0 victory against Azerbaijan - but they too made changes, with Radoslaw Kaluzny replacing the injured Kamil Kosowski and Bartosz Karwan lining up in midfield in place of Radoslaw Sobolewski.

Early exchanges

[5] With 32,000 fans expectant, Poland almost broke the deadlock after just five minutes when a Zurawski free-kick forced Taylor into a full-stretch save. But any notions of a repeat of Saturday were soon dismissed when Quinn struck a volley that Jerzy Dudek superbly turned behind on 13 minutes.

Krzynówek class

[6] The Liverpool FC goalkeeper was less impressive when he was caught out of position five minutes later but was fortunate to see Healy's free-kick narrowly elude Quinn. However, the pressure was fleeting and the home side soon began to exert their class with Jacek Krzynówek orchestrating the midfield.

Bak lob

[7] Taylor brilliantly denied the Bayer 04 Leverkusen midfield player and Zurawski from close range just before the half-hour as Poland began to raise the tempo. The goalkeeper was almost caught by a long-range lob eleven minutes after the restart but recovered to keep out Jacek Bak's effort.

Lapse defending

[8] Tomasz Frankowski was denied in a one-on-one and Taylor kept out Krzynówek's strike from distance as Poland looked to be running out of ideas before the 86th minute, when Zurawski capitalised on some lapse defending to head in. The three points kept Poland a point behind England and victory in Azerbaijan on 4 June would take them to the summit. Northern Ireland remained fourth and next play the Azeris at home on 3 September.

Poland's Jacek Krzynowek skips past Chris Baird of Northern Ireland