Peter BEARDSLEY

 At the World Cup, Beardsley came off the bench for ex-Newcastle team-mate Chris Waddle but couldn't rescue England as they succumbed poorly to an ordinary Portugal side 1-0 in Monterrey; then he missed out entirely on the awful 0-0 draw against Morocco which followed. With the pressure on to make changes to save England's campaign, Robson decided to ditch Hateley's ineffectual height option and dispensed with the natural wingers. This opened a gap for Beardsley to provide the creativity and England were transformed. Lineker had already slid home an opener before Peter played probably the most famous pass of his career. Coming deep to receive a diagonal pass from Kenny Sansom, he spied Steve Hodge's burst down the left flank and played an instinctive and stunningly accurate ball at pace for Hodge to reach at full throttle. The first time cross was perfect for an unerring finish from Lineker, whose third wasn't far behind. The tactical alterations acted as a catalyst for England's sudden freedom to play and create, and Lineker heaped enormous praise on Beardsley via the press, labelling him the "ideal partner". The nerves had gone and Peter was at the heart of the recovery, and his place was in no doubt as England prepared for Paraguay (the photo above is during the game) in Mexico City for round two.

Lineker's toe-poked opener separated the sides at the break; then Beardsley scored one of England's more forgotten (though not forgettable) goals, sweeping home the rebound after the goalkeeper failed to hold Terry Butcher's shot from a half-cleared corner. Few recall the effort because of Lineker's domination in the England and tournament goalscoring charts - one of the many inaccurate received wisdoms of the 1986 World Cup was that Lineker scored all of England's goals. He did then get England's third - Beardsley was rested by Robson in the closing stages in Hateley's favour, ready for the quarter-final - and England had Argentina waiting for them. Still only nine caps in, Peter worked hard in the sweltering temperatures and, after Diego Maradona's combination of treachery and genius had given their opponents a 2-0 lead, was ordered along with the other centralised players to give the ball to late substitute John Barnes, who almost single handedly hauled England level. The 2-1 defeat was a heartbreaking end to England's dream but Beardsley had emerged a performer of genuine global worth to the England cause. (Matthew Rudd)

 Other strikers with form on their records were checked over by Bobby Robson over the next two years but there wasn't another player available in the Beardsley mould. Now England's first choice front duo was Beardsley and Lineker, both for the coach and for the supporters. Lineker's scoring instincts were impeccably complemented by Beardsley's selfless and jaunty creative streak; he was a natural flair player with fitness and fortitude in aplomb, with the only criticism ever aimed at him being his comparative lack of goals. In 1987, after a summer move to Liverpool, he scored in two clinching qualifiers for the following year's European Championships in Germany - an 8-0 destruction of Turkey at Wembley and a 4-1 overwhelming of Yugoslavia in Belgrade - and he duly played in all six of 1988's warm-ups, scoring one of his best England goals in the 1-0 Rous Cup win over the Scots at Wembley, dummying a Gary Stevens throw-in on the edge of the box for Barnes to collect and steer back into his path. By this time all Scottish heads were spinning and Peter stylishly chipped the ball home.

As England jetted off to Germany, the next development of Beardsley and Lineker's understanding was being keenly anticipated. Peter had enjoyed an almost unbeaten inaugural season with Liverpool but the effect of such a stunning threshold of performance at club level took its toll. He barely got a kick, Lineker (who was later found to be suffering from hepatitis) could not feed off him and England were immobile and riddled with fatigue as they lost all their group matches and returned home, numb. However, though a raging Robson ended some international careers immediately afterwards, Beardsley survived the cull and he and Lineker maintained their standing as England's premier twosome as England regrouped and looked towards the 1990 World Cup in Italy. (Matthew Rudd)

 England drew their opening qualifier 0-0 with Sweden at Wembley and then twice beat Albania, including a 5-0 mauling in which Beardsley scored twice - the only brace he would get in England colours. He started all three of the remaining qualifiers as England booked their place in Italy with some ease and, although injury curtailed his involvement in the pre-tournament build-up games of 1990, he was again an automatic choice for both squad and team as England set off for Italy, on form and with players at the peak of fitness and experience. Beardsley played in the gale force winds of the opening group match with the Irish, which ended in a 1-1 draw, but Robson's switch to a five-man defence and a packed midfield to counter Dutch threats across the centre of the park meant that a striker needed to be culled, and Peter missed the goalless draw which followed. It was clear from hereon in that Robson was prepared to shuffle the squad around a lot more to make best use of its different facets and strengths, and as a result Beardsley spent most of the tournament as a spectator as a direct formation against Egypt allowed a place for the more inelegant Steve Bull (though Peter did get on in the second half) before the one-striker system was again deployed as England scraped past Belgium in the second round and then overcame Cameroon in the quarter-final, though Beardsley again was called from the sub's bench during the latter.

However, with the weight of expectation a World Cup semi-final will always bring, Robson opted for big-game experience and recalled Beardsley to line up just behind Lineker while maintaining the insurance of a five-man defence. Peter's nerveless display was replicated by the whole team as the match ended in a 1-1 draw (the photo above shows the ecstatic Beardsley and Lineker after the latter had fired home a fine equalizer) and he kept the butterflies further at bay by coolly slotting home England's second penalty in the shoot-out. The Germans ultimately won 4-3 and England were out in the most shattering of fashion. There was still one more game to play - though not the one England had hoped for - and Beardsley played the full 90 minutes alongside Lineker in the meaningless third place match against Italy which resulted in a 2-1 win for the host nation. Graham Taylor's acceptance of the England job after the World Cup made international life a little tougher for Peter Beardsley. Still a glorious player to observe for Liverpool and in possession of enough intelligence to look after himself as his 30th birthday approached, it seemed a shoo-in that he and Lineker would continue at the helm of the England attack. Certainly there didn't seem to be any youthful pretenders to the two thrones but Taylor didn't pick Peter for his first game - a 1-0 friendly win over Hungary at Wembley in September 1990 - and seemed loath to do so when the 1992 European Championship qualifiers got underway a month later. (Matthew Rudd)