Match Summary

Malta Team

England Team

England's first international of the new season was another World Cup group match, this time in Malta.  The minnows of the group put up a stubborn show, and England again struggled to break down a hard-working defence, but this time the visitors remained patient, and in the end ran out comfortable winners thanks to some late goals.

The match was similar to the last game, against Scotland, in as much as Malta sat back, kept ten men behind the ball and frustrated England, who, it has to be said, lacked ideas in breaking them down.  The first half was difficult for the fans to watch as England dominated possession but lacked any sort of flair going forward.  It could have been so different had Raheem Sterling reacted quicker to Harry Kane's pass into the box in the first minute.  The winger could not get a shot away and the goalkeeper, Andrew Hogg, was quickly down to smother the Manchester City man's effort.  A minute later and Malta attacked hard and Ryan Fenech shot over.  That was to be Malta's only serious threat to the England goal as the visitors totally took over.

The Maltese players worked their socks off to try and stay in the game, closing England down and denying them any real space.  The ball moved across from side to side but both Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sterling seemed reluctant to go outside their markers.  Instead, they wanted to come inside, where it was already congested, and only the runs of Kyle Walker offered hope.

England forced several corners, but we never score from corners do we, and Jordan Henderson's weak shot from one corner sort of summed up their apathy on that particular set piece.  On 11 minutes Walker pulled the ball back for Henderson to cross to Dele Alli and the Spurs man shot over from a good position, but at least that was more promising.  Ten minutes later, believe it or not, we scored from a corner, except that we didn't.  Henderson's kick was headed home by Phil Jones but Kane was penalised for a foul, so the goal was disallowed.

Down the left-hand side, Ryan Bertrand was also seeing a lot of the ball.  However, his first movement always seemed to be to turn inside and pass back to Gary Cahill or Jones.  When he did find himself in a good position he also seemed reluctant to take the defender on the outside.  To make matters worse England's crossing from either wing seldom beat the first defender, which made life easy for Malta's defenders and infuriated the England fans.  At the other end though, Joe Hart was a virtual spectator as England dominated possession.  You could not fault the workrate of Henderson, Jake Livermore or Alli but nothing was being created because the final ball into the danger zone was so poor.  Right on half-time Oxlade-Chamberlain had a shot easily saved and one could understand the frustrations of some of the England fans as the players trooped off at the break to a chorus of boos.

As the second-half began Malta continued with their terrific workrate and on 49 minutes Andre Schembri put a good effort just wide.  England had brought on Marcus Rashford for the disappointing Sterling after the interval, in an effort to inject a bit of pace and strength to their attack, and he was soon in the action.  Finally, on 53 minutes, England at last made a breakthrough.  Oxlade-Chamberlain pulled the ball back for Livermore to chip the ball into the box.  The defenders managed to clear but only as far as Alli, lurking on the edge of the box.  He tried to work some space for a shot but then found Kane with a terrific pass that was just what the striker ordered.  Kane thrashed his shot past the keeper and England were on their way at last.  There was a collective sigh of relief from the England fans and a collective groan from the disappointed home supporters.

Four minutes later Steve Borg shot wide as Malta tried to hit back but England were now in control.  Unlike in Scotland, there was no way that England would make the same mistake in letting the opposition back into the game and on the hour mark Kane hit a fine shot which Hogg parried away with some difficulty.  With 20 minutes to go Jamie Vardy came on for Alli and on 73 minutes he so nearly converted a lovely cross from Rashford with a typical Vardy flick.  Unfortunately it went wide, but another effort from Oxlade-Chamberlain signalled England's intent to settle the match.  That shot also went wide and was Oxlade-Chamberlain's last involvement as he was then replaced by Danny Welbeck, but not until Rashford saw another good effort well saved by Hogg.

Malta had given their all but were now visibly tiring and after 85 minutes England finally wrapped up the points.  Cahill received the ball just inside the Malta half and passed the ball square to Bertrand.  The full-back had acres of space and decided to let fly from about 25 yards.  The ball dipped and went under the diving goalkeeper's hands.  Hogg might have done better but the goal sealed the points for England.  I always imagined that if I had ever been lucky enough to score a goal for England I would have been up in the clouds with joy, not Bertrand, he showed no emotion whatsoever, not sure why, maybe he had his reasons?

England did not worry about that though and they continued to press home their superiority.  A typical marauding run by Walker, aided by a delightful flick by the impressive Rashford, almost brought number three, and then Kane's fine cross should have been converted at the far post by Welbeck, but his touch wasn't decisive enough.  However, the same two players combined a minute later, and this time Welbeck beat the goalkeeper to Kane's chipped pass to guide the ball up and over Hogg into the net for his 15th England goal.  Three minutes into added time, a Malta player went down injured, but England and Rashford carried on and the Manchester United player found Kane with another excellent pass, and Tottenham's favourite son ended the match with a clinical finish for number four.

Some say 4-0 flattered England but I prefer to say that the scoreline reflected England's total dominance and the fact that three of the goals came late on was irrelevant.  Job done.
   

TheFA.com BBC Sport MFA.com

UEFA.com Mike Payne - football historian and contributor