Germany 1 England 2:John Terry provided England with the perfect end to 2008 by nodding home a late winner to beat Germany in Berlin. Terry got his head to Stewart Downing's curling free-kick six minutes from time, making up for a joint blunder with Scott Carson that let the hosts back into a contest they had been dominated in.

Terry's central defensive partner Matthew Upson put England on their way to a deserved triumph with a close range finish midway through the opening period.

Germany's only first-half threat came through the excellent set piece delivery of Bastian Schweinsteiger, with Heiko Westermann sending a powerful header just over.

Aside from a good effort from debutant Gabriel Agbonlahor, Shaun Wright-Phillips came close on a couple of occasions before their opener.

Goalkeeper Rene Adler came to punch Downing's corner with purpose after an Upson effort had been deflected wide. He missed it completely.

Agbonlahor probably should have bundled home. Instead, the ball bounced down off the striker and Upson launched himself at it, prodding his first England goal into an empty net.

England's capacity to shoot themselves in the foot reared its ugly head again for the equaliser.

As he could see the whole picture, in particular Patrick Helmes bearing down at some speed, Scott Carson, on his first England appearance since his nightmare against Croatia 12 months ago, should have taken charge of the situation.

Sensing hesitation, Terry should simply have whacked it onto the running track behind the visitors' goal.

Between them they did neither, allowing Helmes to stick out a leg as Terry tried to shepherd the ball to Carson, nudge it through the helpless keeper's legs and gleefully skip past.

But they claimed the victory when Wright-Phillips saw his thunderbolt shot crash to safety off a post 11 minutes from time, with Terry finishing off the chance.