Roy Hodgson praised his teams professionalism as England brushed aside San Marino at Wembley Stadium. Goals from Phil Jagielka, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, Andros Townsend and an own goal from Alex Della Valle helped the Three Lions seal their second victory in two games in Euro 2016 qualifying Group E. Hodgson said: “I can’t fault the players for their application throughout the game and I’m really pleased we’ve got this game behind us. “They’re never easy games to play but we’ve won it very comfortably and we’ve added five goals to our tally.” Some supporters among the 55,990 crowd had started to get anxious when the hosts failed to take the lead in the early stages of the match. But Hodgsons team finally broke the deadlock through Jagielkas third international goal, with the Everton centre-half heading home after 24 minutes. Rooney then managed to find the net just before the break with a well-taken penalty after a terrible challenge from Andy Selva. That strike moved the England captain on to 42 international goals – putting him seven short of Sir Bobby Charlton’s record and fourth in the all-time rankings behind Gary Lineker and Jimmy Greaves. San Marino put 10 men behind the ball when they were not in possession and they only managed one shot on target. And it took just four minutes into the second half for Welbeck to make it 3-0 prior to substitute Townsend finding the net before Della Valle deflected Rooney’s chip into past Aldo Simoncini 13 minutes from time. Hodgson said: “It’s a job well done. The crowd were fantastic – they’ve had an enjoyable night and saw a lot of attacking football and saw five goals and there could’ve been a few more. “In the first half of these games when a very fit and healthy team are getting 10 men behind the ball and giving you no space to play, that’s the time you’ve got to wear them down and keep plugging away. “You’ve got to keep doing the right things knowing that if you do that and score one or two goals, in the second half it’s going to open up and you’ll get chances for lots and lots of goals. “So the way the players approached it was very good and of course in the second half, as San Marino tired a bit more, our passing tempo was quicker and we created some very good chances and Jack Wilshere found some very good forward passes.” Hodgson added: “The thing that impressed me most in the game was the fact that at 5-0, on the one or two occasions we lost the ball, we had three or four players sprinting back to try and win back possession. “That type of recovery run and desire – in a game you’ve wrapped up a long time ago – is a very commendable trait.”
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 21:49:36 +0000
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