England hit five in Wembley win

England made it three World Cup qualifying wins out of three with a 5-1 win over Kazakhstan at Wembley in which man of the match Wayne Rooney scored twice.

After a goalless, increasingly frustrating, first half, a header from stand-in captain Rio Ferdinand and an own goal from Aleksandr Kuchma gave England a two-goal lead they had not yet merited.

An error from Ashley Cole ushered in Zhambyl Kuzeyev to halve the deficit but Rooney headed England’s third and squeezed home a fourth before Jermain Defoe completed the rout.

After last month’s 4-1 win over Croatia the triumphant homecoming envisaged materialised only in a second-half barrage of goals that was helped immeasurably by the introduction of crowd favourite David Beckham.

Like so often at Wembley, England laboured under the pressure of an expectant home crowd and offered few signs of encouragement in the first half.

Emile Heskey was unable to turn home a cross from Theo Walcott after the Arsenal man had scampered down the right.

Rare moments of danger when they did come at the other end were inevitably of England’s own making. Cole was the first to offer a sight of goal to the visitors’ most able and willing runner Tanat Nusserbayev.

Matthew Upson, deputising in central defence for the injured John Terry was more culpable. First allowing Nusserbayev to turn inside him, a short pass back then required a frantic clearance from David James.

England carried their greatest threat down the right. Walcott turned inside and fired in a left foot shot which curled a metre or so wide of the goal.

On one rare occasion when England’s players were able to link up effectively in the first half, Gareth Barry and Heskey combined to give Frank Lampard a shooting chance that was blocked.

Lampard then dispatched another shot from 25 yards out that grazed the side netting and had a section of the 90,000 crowd cheering goal.

As the minutes ticked by, so did the number of stray passes. A poor touch from the initially promising Walcott wasted a break following Rooney’s run down the left.

A feeling of frustration so familiar to fans at Wembley led to a smattering of boos at the interval, while Shaun Wright-Phillips’s introduction at half-time for Barry actually benefited the visitors initially who, afforded more space in midfield, began to have a threat of their own.

Sabyrkhan Ibrayev’s cross from the right was headed down by Sergey Ostapenko Nusserbayev but, from six yards out, he skewed his shot horribly.

Seven minutes after the break the deadlock was broken. Lampard’s inswinging corner drifted over the floundering Alexandr Mokin and Ferdinand had the relatively simple task of heading the ball into an unguarded net.

Still Nusserbayev troubled England’s goal more than he should have done. A powerful shot from distance appeared a fairly comfortable save for James who instead allowed the ball to squirm between his palms.

Kukeyev then made a mockery of England’s goalscorer reaching into his box of tricks to haul out a mesmeric run. Ferdinand, though, was not the only England player to be wearing a red face. For times in the second half, the side under the caretaker charge of Bernd Storck played the better football.

You could have forgiven Wayne Rooney for his understated celebration in giving England a two-goal lead on 64 minutes.

As it was, Rooney had realised that it was the defender jumping just behind him, Kuchma, who had diverted Lampard’s free kick with his head as the ball beat the diving Mokin at his near post.

Ashley Cole held up his hand too two minutes later but the look of embarrassment on his face was genuine. The defender’s lofted pass missed Upson and landed at the feet at Kukeyev who, after touching the ball twice, then thrice, beat James with a low finish to send a tiny corner of Wembley into hysteria.

After Heskey had headed wide, Rooney restored his side’s two goal advantage with a convincing header low into the bottom corner after Wes Brown had stood up a cross from the right.

An even bigger cheer followed for the arrival of David Beckham.

England’s idol was the creator of England’s fourth as Rooney doubled his day’s haul five minutes from full time. Beckham’s outswinging free kick was deflected into the path of Rooney who managed to squeeze in a shot at the near post.

England were at last peppering the Kazakhs’ goal as had surely been the plan from the start. The visitors’ resolve had long waned and a flattering fourth goal was added to by a fifth. Substitute Jermain Defoe got his name on the scoresheet. Freed by Heskey’s pass, the Portsmouth striker raced clear to slide a shot under Mokin.