Roy Hodgson’s England Get The Job Done vs. San Marino

By Gareth Hinton @Galccfc on October 10, 2014

Roy Hodgson‘s England were always going to win last night against minnows San Marino – the only question was by how many? Goals from Phil Jagielka, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, Andros Townsend and a Alessandro Della Valle own goal gave England a 5-0 UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying victory.

England did enough in the end to avoid a media backlash, but the first half did leave a lot to be desired. England had chances, but they struggled to break down the defensive line of San Marino. It took Hodgson’s men until the 24th minute to make the breakthrough, as defender Jagielka pounced on a slip by the San Marino keeper from a corner to put the Three Lions one goal up. Rooney then added the second from the penalty spot just before the break. The second half was a lot better and more of what the near 56,000 in attendance had expected. Welbeck made it three just after halftime, and then the lively Townsend came off the bench to add a fourth. Della Valle completed the scoring with his second own goal against England in his career. Overall, England had 34 shots on goal, 17 on target and 78 percent of the ball.

Arsenal‘s Calum Chambers made his full debut, James Milner played in the unfamiliar holding role and Kieran Gibbs made his first competitive England appearance. Manchester United and England skipperRooney scored his 42nd international goal, which puts him seven behind Bobby Charlton‘s record.

It is difficult to gauge England’s performance last night because of the standard of opposition they were up against. San Marino are currently joint bottom of the FIFA World Rankings, and their biggest ever win was a 1-0 home win against Liechtenstein in 2004. But England still had to get the job done; Hodgson’s men had a game plan, they stuck to it and it paid off.

The Three Lions now travel to Estonia on Sunday and will be hoping to make it three wins out of three. Estonia will provide their own personal test again England, but it is expected to be similar to the San Marino game, as Hodgson’s men will be up against an organized two banks of four. England sit pretty at the top of the table with seven goals scored and none conceded as they go into match-day three on Sunday.

Gareth Hinton is a Soccer writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @Galccfc “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google