Mixture of Rooney and luck enough for England to top group That "goal" scored by Frank Lampard in Bloemfontein at the World Cup finals two years ago against Germany that crossed the line but was not given by the referee now has an equally controversial bedfellow in the history of the national team. Except this one was "scored" last night by Ukraine's Marko Devic and was denied to the host nation by a helpless referee and a goalline assistant who, quite frankly, should have gone to Specsavers. Replays of Devic's shot parried by Joe Hart on 62 minutes and scooped out by John Terry showed that it clearly crossed the line. It would have been a richly deserved equaliser for Ukraine and who knows how the game might have changed from there? But in the end it was left to the Ukrainians to rant about a gross injustice. Michel Platini, the Uefa president, who has resisted the introduction of technology, must be so proud. As for England, they finish unexpectedly top of Group D with France surprisingly defeated 2-0 last night by a Sweden team already eliminated, and in doing so England skip that tricky quarter-final assignation with Spain on Saturday and instead face Italy in Kiev on Sunday. Yes, potentially Germany wait in the semi-finals but this is a happy turn of events that few anticipated. It was, in the first half especially, a dreadfully nervous performance that was hardly settled by Wayne Rooney's goal three minutes after half-time. But with seven points and top of the group already one feels that Roy Hodgson has satisfied the most basic requirements asked of him and - who knows? - his team could even go one better. A side without Theo Walcott in it suggested that Hodgson was not quite prepared to take the handbrake off when it came to England. His only change, in the end, was Rooney in place of Andy Carroll and otherwise, this was the team that started against Sweden. From Ukraine, the news was more dramatic. The television pictures of Andrei Shevchenko arriving at the stadium captured him smiling and relaxed but he was not named in the first XI and neither was Andrei Voronin, who also started the game against France. Instead, Oleg Blokhin selected Devic and Artem Milevskiy in attack, and Shevchenko, who has been struggling with a knee injury, only came out to warm up late into the pre-match routine. Although it took a while for the atmosphere to build in the Donbass Arena, it had done so considerably by kick-off and there was little doubt that England would have questions asked of them in the game's opening stages by a host nation desperate for a result. Unfortunately for Hodgson's team, that early pressure just went on and on. It was a crisp Ukraine performance in the first half but it was by no means helped by an England team that was skittish in possession and retreating deep into its own territory. Quickly it became worse and worse for them. Bad touches returned possession to their opponents. Blokhin's team started to carve out chances. The England of the first half were the bad old England that are so instantly recognisable to long-suffering supporters. Their confidence wilted with every good passage of play the Ukrainians enjoyed. They appeared resigned to the worst at times. To compound it, Rooney's touch was heavy and off-beam, never more so than when he had an excellent chance to score on 28 minutes. Then, his back-post header from Ashley Young's cross from the left wing only needed steering inside Andrei Pyatov's back post but instead he did not get the full connection. For most of the half, Rooney looked in need of recalibrating. He was not the only one. Young had one of those days when he cannot force his way into the game. Even the ever-reliable Scott Parker was unable to get a grip of the game and when he was put on his backside by the turning and twisting Andrei Yarmolenko in the 42nd minute you had to fear the worst. The Ukrainian missed with his shot. A better side than Ukraine would have been out of sight by half-time. They worked the diagonal ball out to England's left side and they attacked Glen Johnson's flank. Inexplicably, Johnson showed the left-sided, right-footed Yevhen Konoplyanka inside on one occasion which caused problems. England were so deep they simply invited a relatively average team to attack. Even so, Ukraine failed to take the chances that were presented to them. Hart was solid, especially when saving an awkward shot from Yarmolenko on the half-hour. On the few occasions when England did get close to a Ukraine team that had 57 per cent possession in the first half, they posed questions, especially of the over-anxious goalkeeper Pyatov. At half-time, Blokhin resisted the calls from the Ukraine support to bring on Shevchenko, indeed he did so until just 20 minutes remained. By then England were in the lead and, although far from comfortable, they had salvaged something from an unpromising performance. Rooney's 29th international goal was by no means the most difficult to execute but it was one of the most valuable. His first tournament goal since Euro 2004 was steered in with his head at the back-post after fine work from Steven Gerrard on the right side. A recycled corner had fallen to the England captain and he powered past Yevhen Selin before his cross took a double deflection on its way to squirming past Pyatov on its way to Rooney who was unmarked. It owed most to the drive of Gerrard who in spite of England's faults, was excellent. Early in the move forward for Ukraine's goal-that-never-was, Milevskiy who played in Devic was offside and not penalised. However, when the ball arrived via Milevskiy at the feet of Devic his subsequent shot clearly crossed the line. Walcott, Carroll and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all came on in the final stages as England kept Ukraine at bay. Blokhin was left to berate the pitchside Uefa officials. Englishmen can at least say that they know his pain.