England won their first home game of the Euro 2016 qualifiers against San Marino, a team made up of one professional footballer and 10 part-time players.

The fist chance of the game came to England when the home side were awarded a indirect costless kick in the 5th minute. Wayne Rooney’s shot was punched away by goalkeeper Aldo Simoncini, and Danny Welbeck’s follow up shot moments later blow wide of the post. Rooney again came close to breaking the deadlock in the 18yj minutes, but his long-range effort went straight into the keeper’s hands.

Raheem Sterling was denied the opener in the 23rd minute after Simoncini made a good save from the Liverpool winger’s shot. However, from the resulting corner, Phil Jagielka finally broke the deadlock. The Everton captain managed to climb higher than the San Marino goalkeeper and the centre back headed the ball into an empty net, to give England the lead. There were calls for a foul on Simoncini, but replays showed Simoncini had tripped in an effort to reach James Milner's corner.

Simoncini saved San Marino from conceding a second goal in the 41st minute, after he pulled off a world class save to deny Welbeck from scoring. England scored their second goal of the night after Rooney was almost decapitated in the penalty box from a high boot, and the referee pointed to the spot. The captain stepped up to the spot and buried the ball past Simoncini to double England’s lead.

Arsenal striker Welbeck scored the third goal of the evening for England. Substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain picked the ball up on the right wing and the winger sent in a good, low pass across the face of goal which met his teammate Welbeck. The striker slotted the ball past the keeper to make it 3-0 in the 48th minute. Rooney almost scored his second of the game after a great ball from Wilshere saw the England captain one-on-one with the San Marino keeper. Simoncini, however, saved his chipped effort. England had a goal wrongly disallowed after Oxlade-Chamberlain's thunderbolt of a shot deflected off Adam Lallana and into the net. The linesman claimed the ball was offside and the goal was disallowed, however video replays showed that Lallana was onside.

Tottenham winger Andros Townsend, another substitute, gave England their fourth goal of the game. The 25-year-old picked the ball on the edge of the penalty box and the winger smashed the ball in with a brilliant 20-yard shot, catching Simoncini out at his near post, in the 72nd minute. Rooney thought he had scored his second of the night, after a great past from Jack Wilshere found the Manchester United forward and the 29-year-old looked to have dinked the ball in. However, the goal was given as an own goal because replays showed it took a huge deflection off Della Valle. Townsend almost scored his brace in the 87th minute but his shot was well blocked off the line by the San Marino defender.

England march onwards in their efforts to qualify for the Euro 2016 Championships. This will be far from the hardest game they face before then, but they put in a professional performance to pick up the three points.

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About the author
Dylan Walsh
Student at the University of Brighton, 20-years-old, Twitter: @dylanwalsh_