England Under-21s gave themselves a timely morale-boost by hitting Scotland for six in a 6-0 friendly clash at Bramall Lane.
Playing for the first time since the hugely disappointing European Championship campaign in June that cost manager Stuart Pearce his job, the Young Lions - overseen by seniors boss Roy Hodgson - went at their opponents from the off and were ahead within three minutes.
Midfielder Jonjo Shelvey sent a ball over the top and winger Nathan Redmond slotted past Scotland goalkeeper Jordan Archer.
England continued to control proceedings, with Shelvey influential from the middle, Connor Wickham making a nuisance of himself up front and Raheem Sterling looking lively on the left.
And the latter added the second goal in the 38th minute, collecting the ball from Shelvey via a Redmond flick, steadying himself and then rifling it beyond Archer.
Wickham made it 3-0 five minutes after the restart, hooking the ball in nicely when a botched attempted clearance by Archer came his way.
And England then put themselves well and truly out of sight with two goals in two minutes, substitute Ross Barkley finishing after combining with Wickham in the 55th and Shelvey looping a delightful long-distance effort over the goalkeeper in the 56th.
A rising shot from another substitute, Tom Carroll, took England to six in the 61st minute, reflecting an utterly dominant performance against a Scotland side who appeared capable of putting up little resistance.
The only real negative point for the Young Lions came shortly before the interval when midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah sustained an injury from a Tony Watt tackle and had to depart the field on a stretcher.
The hope for England will be that this represents first step on the road to redemption after their poor display at this summer's Euros in Israel, where they were beaten in all three of their games and failed to score a goal from open play.
Source: PA
