England defender John Terry appears to have won his race to be fit for the upcoming World Cup qualifying double-header against Moldova and Ukraine.

Terry’s Chelsea teammate Ashley Cole is battling to recover for the latter qualifier after being ruled out of Friday’s match in Chisinau with an ankle injury, which has ended Cole’s hopes of becoming the first full-back to win 100 England caps during September’s double-header. He is currently on 98 and will have to wait until at least next month to reach his century. However, Blues captain Terry played a full part in training at England’s London Colney base on Monday afternoon, looking completely untroubled by his recent neck injury as he headed several balls during the session of more than an hour.

Striker Andy Carroll had already been ruled out of both games after suffering a hamstring injury on his West Ham debut on Saturday, while boss Roy Hodgson was already without Wayne Rooney, who suffered a gashed leg playing for Manchester United before the squad was named. Sixteen of England’s 22 remaining players trained on Monday, with those involved in matches on Sunday restricted to gym work: captain Steven Gerrard, Danny Welbeck, Glen Johnson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Michael Carrick and Tom Cleverley. Hodgson allowed the session to remain open to the media throughout after it was initially scheduled to take place behind closed doors after the first 15 minutes.

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