High the vanes of Shrewsbury gleam Islanded in Severn stream.

Sandy's the boy, if once to it they fall, / That will play up old gooseberry soon with them all.

The Southampton striker, who also struck a post late on, was being serenaded by the Wembley crowd before the end and should probably brace himself for some Lambert-mania over the coming days but, amid the eulogies, it should not overlook the deficiencies that were evident in another stodgy England performance.

Writing at a time of a general resurgence in Australian creative writing, Anderson has maintained a certain aloofness from critical fashions, academic circuits, and literary wordfests.