Man City keeper Joe Hart says England failure not an option

28 March 2013 08:56

Joe Hart insists England are refusing to contemplate the possibility of failing to qualify for the 2014 World Cup.

Roy Hodgson's side remain in second spot in their group after surrendering a half-time lead in the 1-1 draw with leaders Montenegro in Podgorica. It was a similar scenario to the draw in Poland in October when Tuesday night's scorer, Wayne Rooney, also put England ahead before they were pegged back.

But Hart believes such challenges away from home are not easy to overcome and that England have to try and capitalise on a promising position in their remaining games at Wembley. The Manchester City goalkeeper said: "People ask about not holding on against Poland and Montenegro but they are tough places to come."

He added: "Hopefully we will look back at last night as a good point earned. You've got to give respect to the opposition. I thought Montenegro were great in the second half and they made it hard for us.

"How I do assess the group? It is going to be tough. It is a really tough thing to qualify for a World Cup and you kind of take it a bit for granted.

"That's what we expect as a nation. We are England, we should be qualifying for things but it is easier said than done.

"But that's our plan (to qualify) and it is going to be difficult, but we aim to really capitalise on the home games."

Hart went on: "We are not contemplating failing to qualify. That's not even crossing our minds at the moment.

"We've got ourselves in a strong position and we've got Montenegro to come at home and, if we win all the games now, we finish top of the group.

"That's the way we are going to have to view things. We are in this position now so we've got to move on from it."

Source: PA