England were clinging desperately to their apparent place in the quarter-finals against Italy after being outplayed by the Romanians.

But with only three minutes left, Phil Neville brought down ex-Coventry striker Viorel Moldovan inside the penalty area and substitute Ioan Ganea struck the ball firmly past keeper Nigel Martyn, who had stepped in for the injured David Seaman just before kick-off.

It was the 1998 World Cup all over again - but this time with devastating results.

Two years ago in Toulouse, England clinched an equaliser through substitute Michael Owen only for Dan Petrescu to barge his way past Graeme Le Saux in the final minute to secure victory.

On that occasion, England still had their final group game against Colombia in which to rescue their qualification chances.

This time, it was all over. Keegan's confident belief that his team could win the European Championships had been shattered.

And amid the two pre-match forecasts of facing Italy in the quarter-finals or of the hooligans forcing the team to be thrown out of the competition, the idea of taking a draw against Romania virtually for granted by some outside the England camp was shown to be a blatant case of over-expectation.

Yet again, England had managed to pluck defeat out of the jaws of a draw which would have taken them through. Against Portugal, they threw away a 2-0 lead. Against Romania, it was a one-goal lead but the aftermath was even worse.

The commitment and determination of the side could not be faulted. It was just their defensive and passing weaknesses, added to yet further difficulties in controlling midfield, that were the problem - and what a problem they proved to be.

Romania had thoroughly deserved their 22nd-minute lead through Cristian Chivu and England's unconvincing first-half display hardly merited their 40th-minute equaliser when Alan Shearer scored from the penalty spot after Paul Ince, debatedly, had been brought down.

Indeed, the paucity of their passing was such that the through-ball which Paul Scholes laid through for Michael Owen to finish with aplomb four minutes into injury-time was a rare exception.

That was almost exactly the way - in scoring terms rather than performance - in which England fought back against Argentina at the last World Cup.

Yet just like Argentina equalised soon afterwards, so too did Romania through Dorinel Munteanu two minutes into the second period, before a penalty again settled matters - this time in the final minute rather than during a shoot-out.

England may have defeated Germany for the first time in a competitive game for 34 years just three days ago but they had similarly not beaten Romania for 30 years - and that proved an even harder ghost to lay to rest.

Even without Gheorghe Hagi and even though they created little in their 94th-minute defeat against Portugal, Romania had still finished above the Portuguese in their qualifying group for the tournament and still had far more dangerous movement and passing ability than England.

That was immediately clear, especially with Seaman injuring his left leg in the warm-up and being replaced just before kick-off by Martyn for his first competitive start since September last year.

Within three minutes, Martyn produced a fine save to parry a 20-yard free-kick by Adrian Ilie.

But he was being given little protection by either his defence or midfield as England yet again failed to dominate possession.

Hagi's replacement, Adrian Mutu, was being allowed far too much space in which to pick England apart and Martyn had to parry a shot by former Coventry striker Viorel Moldovan.

England were almost inevitably relying on David Beckham's set-piece delivery and he almost managed to pick out the diving figure of Sol Campbell with one curling free-kick.

However Chivu, who had conceded that free-kick, responded immediately by bursting unchallenged into the England area and lobbing a cross which drifted in the air over the head of Martyn and hit the inside of the far post before crossing the line.

It had certainly been on the cards and Adrian Ilie then arrived unmarked to meet Dan Petrescu's cross only to head straight at the England keeper, while Chivu broke through again only to fire over the bar.

Then came a remarkable 10-minute turn-around in England's fortunes.

Shearer, who was doing his best to inspire the side, laid the ball off the Ince from a throw-in and the Middlesbrough midfielder burst dangerously into the penalty area.

Challenged by Chivu, he went down and - amid fierce debate - won a penalty which Shearer confidently despatched and left the England fans chanting "we're not going home" with relief more than anything else.

Ince still needed to produce a superb recovery tackle as Mutu broke dangerously, yet out of nowhere, England were suddenly ahead on the stroke of half-time.

Scholes lobbed a through-ball ahead of Owen, who just seemed to beat the offside trap and swamped forward to just get a touch on the ball which deflected it past Stelea as the keeper came haring out.

The job was not done for the Liverpool striker but he tucked the ball home from a tight angle.

England were leading 2-1 and they scarcely deserved to be on level terms.

The lead did not last long though as Romania struck back immediately after the interval when Martyn flapped at a cross amid confusion with Martin Keown and Munteanu volleyed back into the net as the keeper struggled to recover his position.

Owen spurned a chance immediately afterwards, as did Ilie, and while England were not being pulled apart by Romania, neither were they threatening to score themselves.

That led to Owen being replaced by Emile Heskey on 66 minutes - just as he was at half-time against Portugal - but, just as in that game, still the opposition pressed with space to capitalise upon in midfield and out on the flanks.

Petrescu and Contra both had efforts blocked, Martyn saved from Mutu and Laurentiu Rosu's shot was just kept out.

Gareth Southgate replaced Scholes to man-mark Mutu amid a typically English backs-to-the-wall performance in which Keown stood out but even that was not enough to prevent Romania clinching the winner with three minutes left.

Moldovan was running towards the dead-ball line when Phil Neville stormed in with a tackle he never needed to make and a penalty was duly - and rightly - awarded.

Shearer's flick-header from Beckham's free-kick was the nearest England came to an equaliser in the desperate last few minutes but their fate was sealed - and Romania were through to the quarter-finals instead.