ENGLAND 2 LITHUANIA 0

BY AYODELE ODUMADE AT WEMBLEY STADIUM

England beat Lithuania to further take a stranglehold of their World Cup qualifying group thanks to two goals from Jermaine Defoe and Jamie Vardy. 

England dominated possession against a very limited Lithuanian side but the breakthrough did not arrive until the 21^st minute.  Raheem Sterling cut through the Lithuanian side on the left and made a carpet cross to Jermain Defoe who swept the ball home on his first appearance for four years for England, to give England the lead. Defoe who many believe was born to score despite his age of 34 carried on with England as if he had never left.  On this showing he stands a good chance of making the plane to Russia next summer if he keeps up this form.

Just before the break Vykintas Slivka headed the ball past the stranded Joe Hart but John Stones had the presence of mind to run back and cleared the ball off the line to save Hart’s blushes.  England led 1-0 at the break.

After the break England were reminded that they were not home and dry as Nerijus Valskis hit a shot which forced Hart to make a fine save.

On 65 minutes substitute Jamie Vardy received the ball from Adam Lallana on the edge of the Lithuanian area and he calmly slotted the ball past Ernestas Setkus to double England’s lead.  With 11 minutes of the game remaining Vardy should have made it three as a Kyle Walker played him in but he hit his shot over the bar.

Minutes later from a Marcus Rashford corner Eric Dyer headed wide.  Rashford looked lively during his cameo appearance but managed to get a yellow card for deliberate handball. It could have been worse

The Lithuanian coach Edgaras Jankauskas said: “I a very proud of my team. We will take a lot of profit from this loss to see what targets can be set. A lot of the England players deserve credit. That is why the Premier League is my favourite League. England deserved to win. We had quite a good game by our standards. I don’t like to lose. No coach likes to lose but today I am not sad.”

Gareth Southgate said:” It has been a great week for Jermaine Defoe, including his professionalism in training and his finishing. We expected it though. We have to look at players each time and see who is in form. We should not have a pecking order. If he is scoring goals in the premier league and scoring like he has this season then I see no reason why he (Defoe) would not be included.”

“I thought it was one of those afternoons where it was job done.  I am not going to eulogise over the performance though.  I took Sterling off because his back was tight before the game. He has the hunger to improve as well. It is in our hands and we still have a lot to do. We know what going to Scotland is going to be like and going to play on a plastic pitch in Lithuania.”