28 Mar 2015

England stroll to win in Euro qualifier

1:46 pm on 28 March 2015

England striker Harry Kane scored 80 seconds into his debut after coming on as a substitute in a 4-1 win over Lithuania in a Euro 2016 qualifier at Wembley Stadium.

Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney

Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Kane, the joint top scorer in the English Premier League with 19 goals for Tottenham Hotspur, announced himself on the international stage with a close range header from a teasing Raheem Sterling cross from the left after 73 minutes.

Sterling also scored his first goal for England, while Danny Welbeck and captain Wayne Rooney also scored.

The English top their group with five straight victories, while Switzerland also beat visitors Estonia 3-0 for their third win, to boost their hopes of reaching next year's tournament in France.

The Swiss are joint second with Slovenia in England's group on nine points.

European champions Spain beat Ukraine 1-0 in Seville to help the Spanish maintain pressure on group leaders Slovakia, who won 3-0 at home to minnows Luxembourg and have 15 points from five matches.

Spain are second on 12 points, three ahead of Ukraine.

Sweden won 2-0 in Moldova to stay second in their group behind Austria, who won 5-0 away to Liechtenstein. The Swedes are four points behind the Austrians.

The Euro 2016 qualifier between Montenegro and Russia in Podgorica was abandoned with the score at 0-0 after trouble forced the German official to stop play on two separate occasions.

Referee Deniz Aytekin first stopped play for around half an hour after visiting goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev was struck by a flare, and Aytekin eventually abandoned the match altogether after more missiles were thrown from the stand in the second half.