An artificial pitch and the first ever female referee for an England men's international gave this match some talking points before it even started, and not to mention the fire at the ground the day before!  Luckily the match went ahead as planned and with this sort of game it was all about the attitude of the England players on the night.  We need not have worried, as right from the start England made it clear they were up for the points.

Gareth Southgate had made several changes from the previous match, but England were soon on top.  James Ward-Prowse was to the forefront with two expertly taken free-kicks and with five minutes gone his pass almost led to an opening for Ben Chilwell, steaming in from the left.  Then three minutes later a move involving Bukayo Saka and Jesse Lingard looked promising but eventually petered out, but England's intentions were there for all to see as they swiftly moved the ball about the team to stretch the home defenders.  The only thing missing in those first ten minutes was a decisive final pass.

On 12 minutes a fine pass from Phil Foden to Jadon Sancho ended with a good cross into the middle.  The ball flicked off of a defender and that was enough to deceive Tammy Abraham, who was looking to pounce.  Another wonderful pass from Foden, superb all evening, saw Chilwell head wide when he might have done better.  England's attacks were continuous and after forcing a couple of fruitless corners they finally took the lead in the 17th minute.

The goal came after Sancho's clever lay-back for Chilwell was thumped past the goalkeeper for what appeared to be the first England goal by the Chelsea full-back.  Alas, the referee signalled offside and ruled the goal out, much to the player's dismay.  But a VAR check was carried out, and after what seemed an age, the referee signalled a goal!  Chilwell was at last able to celebrate.

The pressure was relentless from England with the Andorra defenders chasing shadows at times.  Over the next ten minutes Kieran Trippier saw a shot saved at the near post, Abraham saw his header beaten out by the goalkeeper from Sancho's cross, several corners were won and the way England regained possession on the few occasions they lost the ball, showed their determination to keep that pressure on.  Conor Coady and John Stones, who were engineering all the moves from the back, went up for one of the corners and came very close to adding to England's lead.

I wrote in my notes that it was only a matter of time before that second goal came, and just as I did that, England made it 2-0.  It was the 40th minute when a sublime pass by Foden found Saka roaring in from the right.  His control from the pass was superb and the shot to finish the move was lethal.  It was a fantastic goal, and thoroughly deserved reward for the Arsenal man.

In the closing minutes of the half, Andorra lost their cool a little, with some nasty challenges.  Stones was booked after one of those challenges upset him.  Sancho also earned a booking as the game threatened to get out of hand.  A challenge on him late in the half was particularly aggressive.  As the players went off at the break it was important for Southgate to get across to his players not to get too involved in the roughhouse tactics.  The referee, on the whole, handled the job well, with a decisiveness that left no-one in any doubt who was in charge.

The second-half continued in exactly the same vein as the first had ended, with England totally on top and probing relentlessly for gaps in the hone defence.  The pitch did show up some poor first touches at times, although not too often, thankfully.  On 52 minutes another superb pass from the educated foot of Foden found Chilwell with another great chance.  But instead of heading for goal he tried to head the ball down to Abraham, but messed it up and the chance was lost.

Nothing was coming forward from the Andorra side, and when it did, Stones and Coady easily dealt with the moves.  Just before the hour mark, England added a third goal.  Good combination play between Chilwell and Sancho down the left ended with a great cross to the middle from the latter, and there was Abraham, nipping in front of the goalkeeper to toe-poke the ball home.  The defenders were nowhere to be seen and Josep Gomes in goal, rightly looked perplexed.  Ildefons Lima, the home defender, himself a substitute, then had to go off after pulling up as he chased Sancho, a victim of the pitch it would seem.  Stones was replaced by Mister Tomori, I say Mister, because his Christian name is impossible to spell unless we call him Olli!  It was the AC Milan player's second cap for England.

The home side brought on two more substitutes, and actually forced a couple of corners, but these were dealt with effectively.  On 73 minutes Mason Mount and Jack Grealish came on for Sancho and Lingard, and immediately England livened up again after a subdued spell.  Four minutes after coming on, Grealish was brought down in the box by Jesus Rubio and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.  Up stepped Ward-Prowse, but his spot-kick was saved by Gomes, only for the rebound to be fired home by the Southampton player, much to his relief.

After more home substitutions, Sam Johnstone was forced into his first save of the night, a good one too, except that the forward was offside anyway.  Coady became the third player booked, for reasons unclear, but then on 86 minutes a fine goal from England ended the rout.  Johnstone claimed an assist as he caught a free-kick, spotted Grealish already on his way, and arrowed a fine throw-out right into his path.  Grealish bore down on goal, beat a couple of defenders slightly fortuitously, and then fired in a good shot to beat the keeper.  Johnstone and Grealish gave each other the thumbs up, after what was a lovely piece of football.

England almost added a sixth right on the whistle, but the game ended at 5-0 and a very good, positive performance by this young England side.  Teams like Andorra have to be beaten, and England carried it off well.  As for the referee, Kateryna Monzul can be very pleased with the way she handled the game and I'm sure we will see her again soon
       

Source Notes