Caretaker coach Howard Wilkinson admitted he felt "robbed" of victory in England's World Cup qualifier against Finland when Ray Parlour's late strike crossed the line but was ruled out.

However, after a poor display in Helsinki the national side ended a four-day period in which they had lost to Germany and coach Kevin Keegan had quit the bottom team in qualifying group nine.

As they struggled to pick up their first point of the campaign with a goalless draw against Finland, Albania were beating Greece 2-0 and English football had reached a new low - bottom of the group behind even the Albanians.

Even though the Finns did not deserve to lose, they clearly benefited from two refereeing decisions.

After just six minutes, Hearts keeper Antti Niemi was only booked despite bringing down Teddy Sheringham when he looked to be clear on goal.

Then Parlour's strike was ruled out with just three minutes left after hitting the crossbar as the French linesman failed to spot it had crossed the goal-line.

Asked whether he felt robbed, Wilkinson replied: "Yes I do but that does not change anything.

"I thought the ball had crossed the line though, and so did the players. Clearly they wanted a victory and they felt that they were denied one.

"From the referee's reaction to the foul by Niemi on Shering-ham, I first thought it would be a penalty and then that it would be a red card so I was obviously surprised when he was booked."

Wilkinson admitted it would now be "difficult to qualify" for the 2002 World Cup finals, although he insisted that a draw in Finland was not the worst result imaginable given the chaotic build-up to the match.