James Beattie finally got his big England chance at Old Trafford last night and made steady progress, but not spectacular enough to expect to start against Turkey next month.

After patiently waiting for an opportunity following a blistering year of goalscoring, Beattie was finally handed his first full 90 minutes in a competitive game for England in their Euro 2004 qualifier with Liechtenstein.

He played alongside Michael Owen in attack with Wayne Rooney just behind the front two.

For any striker, it was the ultimate dream ticket.

Playing in such an attacking formation, at home in a Euro 2004 qualifier against a bunch of part-timers - surely there would never be a better chance to get a goal and stake a claim?

Beattie produced a good all-round display that he should be pleased with.

But, with Rooney again winning all the plaudits, it's difficult to see his chances of getting in Sven-Goran Eriksson's regular starting XI having improved at all.

All the elements of his game that have seen him become such a massive success and force his way into the England squad were on show at Old Trafford.

There was the excellent link-up play, the huge workrate and commitment, the aerial domination and the threat to the opponent's keeper.

All that was missing was a goal.

But that was important - this performance will no doubt keep him among Sven's squad of five strikers but goals are what you need to push yourself higher in the pecking order.

In truth, he should be third behind Owen and Rooney. In reality, he might well find himself fifth after Emile Heskey and Darius Vassel as well as the Merseyside men.

As the game came to a close, you could see the frustration on Beattie's face.

Throughout the match, he had run tirelessly to try and get himself an opening - he knew how important it was to score.

As England kept possession and knocked the ball around, Beattie tried to demand the ball, make space and try and force the issue himself.

Sadly for him, his teammates were keener on playing out a professional win rather than going for the goals that everybody had expected.

From England's point of view there's nothing wrong with that as long as the result is the right one.

From Beattie's personal point of view, it was a bit of a problem.

He came close to scoring on several occasions, forcing the keeper into a couple of saves and smashing the underside of the bar, but the goal just proved elusive.

This was the dream chance for Beattie and he did everything he could to take it.

The nature of the game conspired against him somewhat and the luck wasn't quite there either.

He finished the night able to walk away with his head held high having taken a few steps forward.

But it wasn't as many strides as he would have liked.