Frank Lampard walked off the Wembley turf for perhaps the last time in an England shirt with 17 minutes of the match to go.
Off the three Chelsea players on show, Captain John Terry and left back Ashley Cole, it was midfielder Lampard, 33 who was under the spotlight.
Sadly for him, his 73 minutes will not go down as the highlight of an illustrious international career,
AgainstWales, who were determined to snuff out his attacking instincts, he was poor. Like his last outing againstSwitzerlandin the summer, Lamps was mostly anonymous.
His replacement Scott Parker, to be fair was not much better.
But apart from the result, which was the priority, Lampard’s performance was a lesser but not insignificant sideshow.
Englandwon, despite land are now almost qualified for next season’s Euro 2012 finals.
Will Lampard make the plane?
On this performance, it’s hard to see how.
As for Terry and Cole, both performed to their expected high standards.
Terry in particular was immense with last ditch lunges in the first half coupled with a header that almost went in early on.
Cole was at his marauding best and was not fazed by the presence of Gareth Bale.
Both Terry and Cole can expect first class treatment next season as members of theEnglandelite squad for the finals - Lamps needs a blistering season for the Blues and for Capello to have a major change of heart to add to his 88 caps.
The first is probably the latter not so.