Gary Neville, who has never scored in 83 international appearances for England, accepted the blame on Sunday for wasting a glorious opportuntiy to break his duck.

The Manchester United defender had the ideal chance to open his account, and win Saturday's Euro 2008 qualifier against Macedonia, when the ball fell in front of him at Old Trafford.

Macedonia goalkeeper Jane Nikoloski parried a Peter Crouch header into Neville's path, and it seemed certain the veteran fullback would slam his shot into the visitors' net.

Instead, Neville ballooned a volley into the crowd and held his

Neville accepts

FROM PAGE 20 head in despair.

"In games such as Saturday's, you might only get one chance," he said.

"That was the big one and I should have taken it. It was a fantastic opportunity. It almost felt like an open goal in front of me.

"The ball did sit up a little bit but at the very least I should have hit the target. I could have also squared it to Wayne Rooney, although I didn't see him until after I shot.

"It is very disappointing because if I had scored, I would have made it more comfortable for us and they would have had to change the way they approached the game."

As it turned out, Macedonia were able to rely on a counter-attacking style which saw them carve out just as many clear-cut chances as England in the 0-0 stalemate.