Darren Bent: I'm still best No 9 for England

Posted Thursday, July 28, 2011 by The Sun

DARREN BENT is over his Wembley nightmare and ready to lead England again next month.

The Aston Villa striker has not been allowed to forget his open-goal miss in the 2-2 draw with Switzerland in early June.

But he insists the experience will only make him stronger and now wants to play alongside Wayne Rooney in the home friendly against Holland on August 10.

Bent, 27, said: "Some strikers miss chances and no one says a word afterwards - but I miss one and people keep going on about it.

"It bothered me at the time but I'm trying to forget about it now. It happens to the best of people and you've just got to move on.

"I've had a few setbacks over the years and I've had to get stronger but I'm still here fighting.

"To be England's No 9 is fantastic but it's important for me to keep my form up when there are players like Andy Carroll and Jermain Defoe after the shirt.

"First and foremost I want to play well at Villa. But it's a big incentive for me to have a major tournament like the European Championships at the end of the season."

Bent's goal earned Villa a 1-0 win over Blackburn in the Barclays Asia Trophy in Hong Kong yesterday.

The hitman got the final touch to Barry Bannan's 49th-minute cross to put his side through to Saturday's final against Chelsea.

Villa boss Alex McLeish cannot wait to pair Bent with new £9.5million signing Charles N'Zogbia but ruled out any more arrivals at the club this summer.

McLeish has been heavily linked with an £8m move for West Ham midfielder Scott Parker, voted Football Writers' Player of the Year last season.

But he insisted: "We've never even made an enquiry.

"It's unlikely we will do anything else in the transfer market.

"We're watching to make sure the wages don't spiral out of control. People think free transfers don't cost you but they add maybe £50,000 or £60,000 a week in wages.

"I know owner Randy Lerner wants to keep things tighter and work within our means and a lot of clubs will follow our example."

McLeish was delighted with the commitment of his players in a fiercely competitive match against Blackburn.

But he did warn defender James Collins about a last-minute bust-up with Rovers' Jason Roberts as tempers boiled over.
He said: "There was a bit of an edge, a few meaty tackles and a wee tete-a-tete at the end.

"You do worry about people picking up injuries just before the season, but it's great for the players to throw themselves about like that and come through unscathed.

"If you pussy-foot about and don't go into challenges, you're more likely to come a cropper.

"But I've spoken to James about that incident at the end because we have to be careful not to pick up any suspensions."