The odds are shortening on Omer Golan being named Britain’s sports personality of the year next week and the unlikely hero of Israel’s win over Russia can probably count on a few votes from England manager Steve McClaren.

Golan came off the bench to score the stoppage-time winner in Saturday’s 2-1 victory that left England needing only a point against Croatia on Wednesday and with no other stand-out contenders you never know.

It would have been very different had Dmitri Sychev’s 90th-minute shot gone two inches to the right, giving Russia a win that would have just about ended England’s interest in the competition. Such a result would have made Wednesday’s Wembley occasion a virtual dead rubber and a barometer of the fans’ opinion of their manager.

If the showpiece stadium were to feature a full-scale repeat of the boos and abuse he received on the road earlier in the campaign then the embarrassment for his employers at the FA would surely have been too much to bear.

That still might be the case if England somehow contrive to lose to Croatia and allow Russia to leapfrog them by beating Andorra but they will probably get the point they need against the already-qualified guests.

The worry is that it will just be setting England up for another fall.

McClaren will talk again about how getting out of a tough group was always likely to come down to the last game, about how this batch of “quality” players can go to England’s sixth successive European Championship with a real chance of at least matching their previous best effort of the semi-finals on home soil in 1996.

Away defeats in Croatia and Russia and dropped points against Israel and Macedonia will be forgotten as the Brasso comes out again for one final polish of the “Golden Generation.”

David Beckham can look forward to joining England’s elite group of cap centurions, Rio Ferdinand can restore his belief that he is the best defender in the world and Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard can once again cancel out each other’s talent in midfield.

I suspect it would have been saving everybody a lot of painful deja vu if Sychev had been marginally more accurate with his late effort for Russia. Mind you, with goalkeeper Paul Robinson likely to get a recall, England are not home and hosed just yet.

Mitch Phillips is head of Reuters UK sports reporting

PHOTO: Israel’s Omer Golan celebrates after scoring the team’s second goal against Russia during their Euro 2008 Group E qualifying soccer match at Ramat Gan stadium near Tel Aviv November 17, 2007. REUTERS/Oleg Popov