WITH a three-point certainty in Tallinn having been presented beforehand as some kind of apocalyptic event, perhaps we can forgive Steve McClaren that slightly self-congratulatory smile afterwards.

No fleeing from realities this time, as he had done after the Andorra debacle.

That third goal, just after the hour, fashioned and executed by two men who, 11 months ago, appeared destined for international oblivion, evoked many of England's better moments.

The story of the reincarnation of David Beckham and Michael Owen possesses an almost Biblical theme. A favoured son had been cast out into the wilderness, had done his penance, and returned to become a saviour. And so, for the moment, McClaren's enforced u-turn has been his saviour. His crass excommunication, apparently for his own political expediency, of SvenGoran Eriksson's footballing love-child is forgotten - at least by those who perceive England's 3-0 defeat of the team ranked 110th in world football, as a "professional" job.

One suspects that this qualifying drama will yet produce a thoroughly convoluted plot, and an anxious denouement. McClaren can be assured that the sternest challenges remain against Israel, Croatia and Russia twice and the England coach will also have to confront other significant weaknesses, namely Paul Robinson's continued failings, the absence of a quality right-back if Gary Neville is unavailable, and the Gerrard-Lampard conundrum.

But the most acute of McClaren's problems is how to deploy his goalscorers.

Wayne Rooney will return against Israel, passing Peter Crouch in the disciplinary corridor, and the Manchester United man will presumably partner Owen. Yet, the question must be posed: does the latter possess the electrical surges of pace and mobility he once did?

Physically Owen appeared to have developed a stockier frame during his rehabilitation from that cruciate knee ligament injury. "Rustiness" claim his advocates, explaining the absence of goals until Wednesday. But is it more the truth that he'll never fully regain the movement of old On Wednesday night, the Newcastle man managed to score his 37th England goal on his 82nd appearance. It was followed by muted celebrations which were attributed to the fact that he was "just back doing my job as if I'd never been away".

McClaren was quick to applaud Owen's contribution, though that was partly as a means of deflecting attention from Beckham's international future. "Yes, he's [Beckham] brought a lot, " said the England coach. "But let's not forget the contribution Michael Owen's made".

Yet, while Owen sweated unceasingly for his team, it was significant that in the first half he also spurned the kind of opportunity that he used to convert with relish.

Maybe such scepticism is premature. However, these two matches against Brazil and Estonia surely have warned McClaren that he must prepare to identify other sources of goal-power.

The problem is that no one player leaps into the imagination, except potentially Dean Ashton. Andy Johnson and Darren Bent still have to confirm their prowess at this level.

There is much for McClaren to ponder as he attempts to answer the many still denigrating his appointment; critics like Brian Glanville, the esteemed witness of eleven England reigns, who in his recentlypublished book England Managers: The toughest Job in Football refers to McClaren as the "reductio ad absurdum" and "a worse choice even than Graham Taylor" before concluding: "A black, bleak immediate future seems to loom".

It was written presumably without knowledge of Beckham's impending return.

What irony if the brightest star in the footballing constellation continues to lighten such gloom.