A DEFIANT Gary Speed has issued a rallying call to his Wales team-mates ahead of next month's World Cup showdown with England.

The Red Dragons are downhearted after opening their qualifying campaign with disappointing draws against Azerbaijan and Northern Ireland -- the two weakest teams in Group Six.

And the Wanderers' midfielder concedes that the pressure is now on to get something from the England game at Old Trafford on October 9.

Speed, who was in no mood to celebrate his 35th birthday after the Northern Ireland game, said: "It is not a disaster, but it means we must pick up points on the road in October against England and Poland.

"If we don't, people will say we are out of it. This has put more pressure on us, and we only have ourselves to blame.

"But we are looking forward to going to play England because we can't perform any worse than in the last two games.

"It's England and we have nothing to lose there, so let's go for it."

-- but skipper Speed says they have only themselves to blame for the mess they already find themselves in

Their misery has been compounded by the loss of Robbie Savage for three games -- a result of the first red card of his career in the dramatic 2-2 draw with the nine-man Irish on Wednesday.