Here we look at England's previous nights of unqualified failure.

England v Poland, 1973: England needed a win to qualify for the 1974 World Cup when the Poles visited Wembley. Poland took the lead before an Allan Clarke penalty threw England a lifeline. Despite laying siege to the Poland goal, England were thwarted by a combination of poor finishing, strong defending and superb goalkeeping by Jan Tomaszewski - dubbed a clown in the build-up by Brian Clough - who earned a 1-1 draw.

Holland v England, 1993: The two games were vital to both sides' hopes of making the 1994 World Cup. England were in control when they took a 2-0 lead at Wembley before Dennis Bergkamp pulled one back and Peter van Vossen levelled with five minutes to go. In the return game in Rotterdam, the controversial decision not to send off Ronald Koeman despite a professional foul on David Platt was compounded when the same player scored the first goal. Bergkamp then sealed the victory as England crashed out.

England v Croatia, 2007: The much-maligned England boss Steve McClaren seemingly had his bacon saved when Israel's win over Russia left qualification back in his side's hands. But, needing just a point to progress to the finals, the Three Lions went a goal down when goalkeeper Scott Carson, called up for his competitive debut by McClaren, let Niko Kranjcar's long-range effort squirm into the net. Ivica Olic made it two within quarter of an hour before Frank Lampard and Peter Crouch levelled matters after the break. But Mladen Petric hit the winner and, with Russia predictably beating Andorra, England's goose was well and truly cooked after a 3-2 defeat.