2014 World Cup qualifiers: Moldova v England full-time report

Frank Lampard

Moldova 0 England 5

England were never in trouble in Chisinau, where Frank Lampard’s early brace set them up for an emphatic victory.

The midfielder blasted home from the penalty spot in the opening moments to establish his side’s dominance, before heading home Glen Johnson’s cross to make it two.

Jermain Defoe grabbed a third before half-time, and the Three Lions eased to victory as both James Milner and Leighton Baines scored their first goal for their country late in the second half.

Boss Roy Hodgson had spoken of the need to get on top early in a match which carried all sorts of danger for England, but even he could not have imagined the speed with which his side would so readily grab hold of the initiative.

There were less than three minutes on the clock when Steven Gerrard picked up the ball and drove at the home defence in typical fashion, and after he’d laid the ball off to Milner, the latter’s low cross was fired goalwards by Tom Cleverley only to strike the arm of home defender Simion Bulgaru. A penalty was rightly given, and Lampard typically blasted home low and hard for the perfect start.

It was a goal which shocked the Moldovans, and soon Defoe should have done better when picked out by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s low cross, before the forward saw his shot well saved by goalkeeper Stanislav Namasco after another Gerrard run.

Chamberlain was the next to be denied by Namasco after the keeper had initially flapped at a cross, and although Arthur Patras’s shot from distance flew over the bar it wasn’t long before England were back at the other end, and Gerrard crashed a free-kick marginally over the crossbar from an angle.

A second goal was imminent, and it was provided by the same man who scored the first.

Gerrard played the ball to the right and Johnson, and when the full-back’s excellently flighted delivery into the centre dropped perfectly on Lampard’s head, there wasn’t much that the Chelsea man could have done not to score his side’s second. It was 2-0 and England were cruising.

Cleverley almost instantly made it three with a low shot which just went wide, but that third did arrive when the lively Chamberlain burst forward and fed Defoe, with the forward – making his 50th England appearance – able to get off a trademark early shot which the hapless Namasco could only fumble into the net.

The gulf in class had already been established regardless of the scoreline, but Igor Armas almost pulled one back when he headed wide after Joe Hart had missed a corner.

That brought about half-time and the replacement of rested skipper Gerrard with Michael Carrick, and with the Manchester United man came a more measured, patient approach from an England side who knew that they now had the job done.

It was a style which allowed the hosts to finally see more of the ball than they had done at any point during the first half, but still they lacked a cutting edge and the ability to worry Hart in the visiting goal.

The appearances of English substitutes Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck underlined the quality that Hodgson has in reserve compared to the Moldovans, and after a fast break which involved the pair and Cleverley all turn down the opportunity to shoot, the no-nonsense Milner appeared on the scene to crack home his first goal for his country from the edge of the box.

It had long since become a matter of how many England would score, and final total read five after Baines’s curled free-kick from the left edge of the penalty area took a huge deflection off the Moldovan wall and left Namasco with no chance; a slice of fortune on a night when a far superior England had no need for Lady Luck.

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Mark Jones – follow me on twitter

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