England maintain perfect start
15 Oct 2008 - 21:30:42
Wayne Rooney grabbed a second-half brace as England made it four wins out of four in their World Cup qualifying campaign by beating Belarus 3-1 in Minsk.
After securing three points against Andorra, Croatia and Kazakhstan earlier in Group Six, Fabio Capello's side now go into the six-month break from qualifying action at the head of the table and in pole position to reach the World Cup Finals in South Africa.
It was a good result but another mixed performance against a side that had beaten Holland and drawn with Turkey, Germany and Argentina in the last 12 months.
Belarus were without the injured Alex Hleb while Capello decided to make the one enforced change from Saturday's 5-1 win with Wayne Bridge coming in for the injured Ashley Cole, while Steven Gerrard kept his place in the starting line-up.
Belarus started the game brightly without really troubling David James but, when England launched their first menacing attack in the ninth minute, Theo Walcott whipped in a cross that only just evaded Rooney.
Two minutes later England took the lead though when Rooney's close control and skill set up Gerrard who rifled a low 30-yard effort into the corner of the net.
Belarus responded well and James allowed Dmitri Molosh's long-range effort to slip from his grasp before recovering to gather the ball at the second attempt.
The Portsmouth goalkeeper was then forced to parry Pavel Sitko's first-time effort while, at the other end in the 27th minute, Emile Heskey beat the offside trap and eventually clipped in a deep cross that Rooney could not quite turn goalwards.
It proved to be a crucial miss as two minutes later Belarus were level when a well-worked move ended with the unmarked Sitko heading past a stranded James.
England should have regained the lead in the 34th minute when Heskey rose well at the near post to meet Frank Lampard's corner only to see his header drift wide of the post.
England started the second half brightly and in the 50th minute regained their lead when Bridge freed the outstanding Heskey down the left and the Wigan Athletic man surged forward before crossing for Rooney to side-foot the ball home.
Once again England sat back and allowed Belarus to attack them, although this time they never really looked like losing their lead.
Belarus struggled to find the rhythm they had shown in the first period and England wrapped up the victory with a third goal in the 74th minute.
Gerrard picked out Rooney who beat his marker before lifting the ball over Yuri Zhevnov and there was even time for Gerrard to hit the post with the goal gaping in the closing stages as England maintained their 100 per cent record in Group Six.