It is the milestone match. Montenegro’s visit marks England’s 1000th game in international football. Over those 147 years, men have made their mark in history. Peter Shilton has the most caps, with 125. Wayne Rooney the most goals: 53. Bobby Moore is the only man to lift the World Cup.
David Nugent has different distinctions. He has the shortest England career of any goalscorer. As a result, he also has the best goal-per-minute ratio of any England player: one every 11 minutes. And there were only 11 minutes, 12 years ago against Andorra. It is a record he may be destined to keep: at 34, he is unlikely to add to his solitary cap.
“It was a crazy experience,” Nugent recalled of his 2007 debut and, it transpired, farewell. “I was at Preston at the time I got the call-up so no one really expected it.” No Championship player had represented England since 1999; no Preston player since Tom Finney retired as England’s joint record scorer in 1958.
But Darren Bent had joined Michael Owen and Peter Crouch on the injury list. England were short of strikers. “I got recommended by Stuart Pearce, who was manager of the Under-21s, to Steve McClaren,” Nugent said. “The first game was Israel away. I was on the bench. I think I was just there for the numbers.”
Four days after that 0-0 draw, he was a substitute again when England faced Andorra. They were jeered off with the game goalless at half-time. Supporters called for manager McClaren’s sacking before a familiar rescue act allowed a newcomer to be introduced
“Steven Gerrard scored two,” Nugent noted, remembering his nerves. “Then Steve McClaren called me over and said: ‘You’re going on.’ You know how you get jelly legs when you are coming on to the pitch?” But opportunity soon presented itself, courtesy of Stewart Downing’s supply line. “The first couple of minutes I had a chance and I missed a golden opportunity,” Nugent said.
“I thought my chance to score a goal was over.” Then came the last minute. His fellow forward Jermain Defoe shot, goalkeeper Koldo Alvarez fumbled it and his effort would have gone in.
Instead, Nugent said: “The ball is rolling into the net but I have managed to run on to it and tap it over the line. He was trying to claim it but I got clarity after the game it was my goal so it is in the record books.”
Nugent won the FA Cup with Portsmouth the following season. He has twice won promotion to the Premier League, with Leicester and Middlesbrough, and is hoping to make it a hat-trick in his second spell at Preston. He has been one of the most consistent Championship goalscorers of the 21st century and has played in the top flight for four clubs, but the highlight of his career is clear.
“I know it was against Andorra but no one can take it away from me, I have scored for my country and that’s probably top of the list of what you can do as a footballer,” he said.
Only he, Francis Jeffers and Paul Goddard have scored for England in a solitary substitute appearance. For Nugent, who never made the senior squad again, there is nothing bittersweet about it.
“There is only a select few who have one cap and one goal and I am one of them,” he said. “I look back on it now and I still can’t believe I played for my country. I know I didn’t get another chance but I have done it. It was one of my childhood dreams to play for my country and I managed to do it.”
