It was also the first time an England captain had been sent off, and the second booking by Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo looked harsh, but they held on despite another disappointing performance.
England will now be hoping Holland win in the Czech Republic later on Saturday night - or they must beat Poland at Old Trafford on Wednesday to stamp their passport to Germany next summer.
Boss Sven-Goran Eriksson, as expected, dropped Rio Ferdinand to restore Campbell and paired Peter Crouch with Owen up front.
Austria gave England an early scare when the powerful Markus Kiesenebner unleashed a shot from fully 25 yards that forced a fine save from Paul Robinson.
The combination of Crouch and Owen showed promising signs early on, and it took a desperate saving tackle from Scharner to deny the Newcastle striker after a headed flick from his strike partner.
England made the breakthrough after 25 minutes, when referee Cantalejo pointed to the spot after Scharner needlessly pulled Owen back by the arm.
Beckham handed penalty duties to Lampard after missing his last three for England, and it proved to be a wise decision as the Chelsea man sent Jurgen Macho the wrong way from the spot.
England had an even more blatant penalty appeal waved away four minutes before the interval when Owen was clearly clattered to the ground by Andreas Dober, but this time referee Cantajelo was unimpressed.
Owen almost doubled England's lead three minutes after the interval when he raced in on Lampard's pass, but Macho plunged bravely at his feet.
England were strangely lacklustre, and Austria were almost level after 56 minutes when Roland Linz stole in on Terry's header and saw his clever lob rebound to safety off the bar.
There was real drama after after 57 minutes when Beckham was booked after a challenge with Ibertsberger - then sent off seconds later for a foul on the same player as he raced towards the penalty area.
Beckham was unhappy with Ibertsberger, but England's captain was unwise to dive into the tackle with the first yellow card still fresh in the referee's mind.
The red card prompted Eriksson into a cautious substitution, replacing Joe Cole with Ledley King.
England's woes piled up even further when Campbell pulled up clutching his hamstring and was replaced by Ferdinand.
Even with only 10 men, Lampard was still able to produce two fine saves from Macho in the closing stages.
England: Robinson, Young, Terry, Campbell, Carragher, Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Cole, Crouch, Owen. Subs: King, Kirkland, Ferdinand, Wright-Phillips, Richardson, Bent, Defoe.
Austria: Macho, Dober, Scharner, Stranzl, Ibertsberger, Schopp, Aufhauser, Kiesenebner, Weissenberger, Ivanschitz, Linz. Subs: Schranz, Feldhofer, Standfest, Sariyar, Saumel, Lasnik, Kuljic.
Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Sevilla)
Story from BBC SPORT:
Published: 2005/10/08 16:51:00 GMT
© BBC MMV
