STEWART Downing enjoyed a night to remember as he made his England debut at Villa Park last night but there was plenty for everyone else to forget as Sven Goran Eriksson's side played out an uninspiring goalless draw with Holland.

Downing became the first Teessider to represent England while a Middlesbrough player since Alan Peacock in the early 1960s when he replaced a tiring Shaun Wright-Phillips midway through the second half.

The 20-year-old, who was representing Sunderland in the First Division 14 months ago, has long been touted as the answer to England's long-standing left-sided problem.

He didn't have time to provide a definitive answer either way last night but, with England lacking creativity on either side of the field, Downing could yet play a part in next month's crucial World Cup qualifiers with Northern Ireland and Azerbaijan.

One 70th-minute surge provided a glimpse of what he could offer but, after Jan Kromkamp halted his run into the box, Downing's fellow midfielders failed to provide the service that would have seen him test the full-back on his outside.

The arrival of both Downing and Wright-Phillips was supposed to herald a vibrant new era of attacking wing play but, with the former playing for just half an hour and the latter playing here, there and everywhere, some of England's more familiar failings came to the fore instead.

Michael Owen was largely anonymous as England's midfielders failed to find any gaps behind the Dutch defence, while crosses remained at a premium with the home side packing players into a heavily congested midfield third.

Wright-Phillips was the only player able to wriggle free of a well-organised Dutch side but, after ghosting into two scoring positions before the break, the Manchester City midfielder lacked the composure to make the most of his chances.

With the youngster's last international outing having been blighted by racial abuse, both sides wore specially designed strips to underline a united determination to eradicate racial discrimination from the game.

Off-field events might have been particularly unsavoury in the Bernabeu but, from an England perspective, what was happening on the field was not much better.

The widespread condemnation of the Spanish crowd deflected criticism away from Sven Goran Eriksson and his under-performing stars but, back on home soil, the England boss responded to November's defeat by abandoning his preferred 4-4-2 formation.

Ostensibly a means of getting more players into a scoring position, Eriksson's decision to switch to a three-pronged attack also allowed the Swede to hand Wright-Phillips his first international start without requiring him to court controversy by dropping skipper David Beckham.

With Beckham a permanent fixture in Eriksson's plans, Wright-Phillips' chances of bedding into his preferred position on the right of midfield remain slim.

The Manchester City youngster started on that side of the field last night but, within eight minutes of the kick-off, he was dutifully trotting to the opposite flank.

He was back on the right soon afterwards, and the constant chopping and changing did him more harm than good as he endured an opening 20 minutes to forget.

The sprightly Romeo Castelen picked his pocket as he dallied in the centre circle and, after the Dutch midfielder slipped the ball infield, Feyenoord striker Dirk Kuijt rattled an instinctive first-time strike against the left-hand upright with Paul Robinson well beaten.

Things weren't much better for Wright-Phillips at the other end of the field as he quickly wasted two glorious opportunities to add to the memorable goal he scored on his debut against Ukraine at St James' Park in August.

The 23-year-old dragged his close-range shot horribly wide in the 14th minute after Beckham had worked an intelligent one-two with Ashley Cole, but worse was to come six minutes later.

Again Beckham was the instigator, slipping a quick free-kick to the overlapping Gary Neville, and again Wright-Phillips was found wanting as he scuffed the ball into the ground on the edge of the six-yard box.

His fleetness of foot remained a constant threat to the Dutch defence though and, after plodding through the opening four games of their World Cup qualifying group, it was refreshing to see England line up with an attacker able to offer something out of the norm.

Wayne Rooney was that player in Euro 2004 but, with the Manchester United striker turning in a strangely subdued display last night, England struggled to break down an extensively re-modelled Dutch backline despite their plentiful midfield possession.

The home side's defence was similarly untried but, after surviving Kuijt's early scare, Jamie Carragher and Wes Brown dealt effectively with a Dutch side that was comfortable on the ball but bereft of a cutting edge.

That almost changed 11 minutes into the second half, when Cole was outfoxed on the left flank and Bayern Munich's Roy Makaay dragged Castelen's cross narrowly wide on the half-volley.

Castelen had the ball in the net in the 64th minute - his last act before being substituted - but the Dutch midfielder was rightly penalised for a blatant push on the retreating Cole.

Downing had been introduced by that stage and the Boro midfielder's arrival prompted Eriksson to shuffle Beckham inside to compensate for the appearance of some rare width on the left.

But, with the England skipper unable to stamp his authority on proceedings, the home side remained as predictable as ever.

And, had Cole not produced a dramatic sliding block to divert substitute Mark Van Bommel's 76th-minute strike over the crossbar, England would have been reflecting on a second successive defeat instead of an unsatisfactory draw.

Result: England 0 Holland 0.