Arsenal ace happy to silence dad with first England goal

Saturday, October 13, 2012
9:41 AM

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain revealed his father had given him plenty of grief about his lack of goals for England after finally getting off the mark against San Marino.

Arsenal star Oxlade-Chamberlain, 19, became his country’s fourth youngest scorer in last night’s 5-0 World Cup qualifying win, mirroring dad Mark Chamberlain’s own Three Lions record of one goal from eight caps.

However, Chamberlain netted on his England debut against another minnow - Luxembourg - and was becoming impatient for his son to join him on the international scoresheet.

“It’s a relief to get the monkey off my back as they say,” Oxlade-Chamberlain said.

“I’ve been looking for my first goal for England and my dad’s been pushing me, telling me I need to get a goal.”

Oxlade-Chamberlain was in danger of another lecture after a first half yesterday that saw San Marino goalkeeper Aldo Simoncini perform heroics to keep him out.

“I was plugging away, I was shooting,” he added.

“It wasn’t paying off in the first half but, luckily enough, it went in for me in the second.

“I didn’t have too much time to think about it, to be fair.

“I think it was a bit of a dodgy touch from Tom Cleverley. I don’t even think he meant to give it to me!

“It just came to me and I’ve just tried to pass it and caress it into the corner.”

Oxlade-Chamberlain was not alone in his frustration before the floodgates opened last night.

There were as many groans as cheers at a packed Wembley, amid expectation of a cricket score against one of the world’s worst international teams.

Admitting he had never played in such a one-sided game, Oxlade-Chamberlain said: “Sometimes people, spectators, don’t realise how frustrating that can be, when another team comes and camps behind the ball and puts 11 men behind the ball.

“Obviously, we had a lot of chances and maybe people would say that we should’ve won by more.

“At the end of the day, we needed to get three points and 5-0 I don’t think is a bad scoreline for us, and we can take a lot into the next game [against Poland].”