Heskey blow felt nationwide

Heskey limped off after nine minutes of his club's 1-1 Barclays Premier League draw with Fulham and there are fears he may have suffered an injury which could keep him out for up to two months.

Heskey went straight to hospital after hobbling off the pitch and boss Chris Hutchings said: "He has gone to have an x-ray and obviously we will just to wait and see how bad it is. He just came down and rolled his ankle and whether he has also broken anything we don't know. He tried to carry on but it was too painful."

He added: "Emile has been a wonderful player not just for England, but also for us in all our games so far. His absence would be a big blow for us. We didn't want to do any more damage and think long-term."

Even if, as Hutchings hopes, Heskey has simply turned his ankle, he would still be considered a doubt for next month's European Championship double header against Estonia and Russia.

Before he received news of Heskey's injury, Hutchings must have thought his luck was in as Jason Koumas salvaged his side's unbeaten home record by sweeping home a 78th minute penalty.

The visitors were in command of the game for long periods and until Hameur Bouazza hauled down Mario Melchiot in the box, it seemed Clint Dempsey's 11th minute goal was going to prove enough.

Instead, it was the Latics who came closest to leaving with all three points after Paul Scharner's injury-time effort from Emmerson Boyce's cross was held on the line by Antti Niemi.

Bewildered Fulham boss Lawrie Sanchez said: "I would have thought that was about as comprehensive as you can get without actually winning a match and ultimately we were hanging on."