Injury worries ruin Roy Hodgson’s second win

Terry was substituted towards the end as a precaution. “He felt his hamstring,” Hodgons said, adding it was “not a major thing”, although he, too, had a scan.

Steven Gerrard, the captain, was also taken off after suffering from cramp, and Joleon Lescott ended the match with a bandage around his head.

The injuries add to Hodgson’s worries, just days before the England squad jet off for their Euro 2012 base in the Polish city of Cracow. Scott Parker was already a concern before the Belgium game, having tried to shake off an achilles injury.

But he appeared to come through unscathed against an uncompromising Belgium side whose robust approach was signalled in the opening minutes, with first Ashley Cole and then Cahill feeling the force of their opponents’ physical challenges.

Cahill’s injury came when Dries Mertens needlessly pushed the defender into Hart as he attempted to shepherd the ball back to the goalkeeper - for which the Belgian was booked. Hodgson expressed his anger at Mertens’ actions.

“I must say I was not happy with it,” Hodgson said. ” ‘Unfortunate’ is too kind a word.

“When a striker is chasing a defender who is feeding a ball to the goalkeeper, those nudges and pushes take the defender into the goalkeeper. It is something, if you have been a goalkeeper, you take very unkindly to.

“The referee gave him a yellow card, which he deserved. Unfortunately for us, the consequences might be a lot more than a yellow card because a fracture is a distinct possibility.”

Hodgson declined to speculate on what he would do if Cahill’s injury kept him out of Euro 2012. Before the FA revealed that the results of Cahill’s scan would not be known until Sunday, he said: “I’m not thinking too much about it now, but we’ll know the outcome in a couple of hours and then I will give it serious thought.”

Asked about likely replacements, he joked: “Well, yes, I think we are running out of stand-by players...

“We will have to deal with it when the time comes,” he said, pointing out that even Danny Welbeck, who scored the winning goal, had to be withdrawn to protect him from a stomach reation to antibiotics.

“We didn’t want to take any more risks,” he said.

The fact is there are no more defenders left in Hodgson’s original stand-by squad of five - Jagielka was promoted to the full squad after Lampard’s injury. And midfielder Jordan Henderson has since replaced Barry.

That leaves Jack Butland, the rookie goalkeeper who was drafted in after an injury to John Ruddy - winger Adam Johnson and Daniel Sturridge, who can play wide or up front - but not in defence, leaving the decision not to include City’s Micah Richards in the original shortlist even more curious.

Even more controversially, Rio Ferdinand was left out of the squad for “footballing reasons”, according to Hodgson, while Terry, who faces a charge of racially abusing Ferdinand’s brother, Anton, after the tournament, was selected.

Last week Hodgson called up Martin Kelly, Liverpool’s uncapped right back, to cover for Glen Johnson in training. If Cahill is ruled out and Hodgson promotes Kelly to the squad for Poland and Ukraine, that would increase the chances of Phil Jones - who has played mostly at right back or in midfield - being used as cover for one of the central-defensive positions.

Hart said he expected a different performance from England when they play France and admitted they would have to improve. “We have been very resiliant, and Danny took his goal superbly,” Hart said. “We need to improve in all areas.

“We need to have high standards, and need to trust each other a bit more on the ball. Hopefully, it is coming up nicely for the France game. I think we are going to perform a little differently against them.”

Meanwhile, the England manager said he took satisfaction from England’s performance and the result.

“I’m very pleased. It has been hard work, we used a lot of players,” he said. “There was a lot of disruption in the second half. But we were up against a good Belgium team, and I’m very happy that we have come out with another victory.”

Hodgson will also have been encouraged by the appearance of Wayne Rooney as a second-half substitute. It was the Manchester United striker’s first time in action under Hodgson, having shaken off an apparent toe injury.

Rooney, who is banned from England’s first two group matches, revealed that he turned down the chance of an even longer rest after another demanding season with United.

“It was a good run-out, a bit longer than I expected,” Rooney said. “It was nice to get back on the pitch to play. It’s important to rest after a long season - it’s nice to get that break.

“He [Hodgson] did offer me another week off, basically, but I didn’t think it would be fair for me to join up with the team and meet them just as we’re flying out to Poland. I want to be part of the squad.”

Despite the question marks posed by the latest spate of injuries, Hodgson says he is closer to knowing his starting XI for the France match.

“My ideas... get clearer every day, and training sessions help, but nothing like games” he said. T”hat game has cleared up a few things in my mind and I am a lot closer now to knowing how I would like to start the game but I am going to keep that to myself.”

Belgium’s caretaker manager Marc Wilmots declared himself satisfied with his team’s performance, insisting they deserved a draw. “We controlled the game in the first half hour,” he said.

Asked about England’s chances at Euro 2012, Wilmots added: “It is a difficult tournament. England have good individuals but they have to survive the first three games and get to the quarter finals and after that anything can happen.”