When England were drawn in the same World Cup qualifying group as Turkey back in 1992, the players and coaching staff could have been forgiven for having a wry smile.
After all, in the previous six meetings between the two nations, England had scored 23 goals, without having had their net breached at the other end. That period also included two separate 8-0 victories.
So, having drawn their opening qualifier at home with Norway, the Turks would have been viewed as the perfect opposition for Graham Taylor's men 21 years ago today.
As expected, the Three Lions started brightly at Wembley and went close to breaking the deadlock in the fifth minute through Lee Dixon, who saw his drilled shot from a narrow angle strike the upright.
Then, in the 13th minute, Turkey had their best chance yet to find the back of the net against the hosts. First Hakan Sukur saw his shot from close range saved by Chris Woods and when the rebound fell to captain Unal Karaman, he inexplicably struck the crossbar with the England goalkeeper stranded.
That miss was duly punished three minutes later when a mix-up in the Turkish defence saw the ball drop to Paul Gascoigne and he fired a low effort beyond the reach of Hayrettin Demirbas.
A second goal followed in the 30th minute as Ian Wright was freed down the left flank by Gascoigne. From there, the Arsenal frontman crossed for his strike partner Alan Shearer, who stooped to head his second international goal.
The match was then put beyond Turkey's reach with 60 minutes played courtesy of Stuart Pearce, who saw his free kick deflect off the wall and beat Demirbas in the Turkey net.
Sixty seconds later, the hosts scored their fourth and final goal when centre-back Des Walker raided forward before picking out Gascoigne with a low cross. The playmaker then rounded Demirbas to leave himself with a simple tap-in.
ENGLAND: Woods; Dixon, Adams, Walker, Pearce; Palmer, Ince, Platt, Gascoigne; Shearer, Wright
TURKEY: Demirbas; Keskin, Cetin, Temizkanoglu, Korkmaz; Ozdilek, Cetin, Cikirikci Karaman; Sukur, Mandirali
Liam Apicella
