England vs Lithuania, Euro 2016 qualifier: live

England v Lithuania - Latest score, news updates, live match report and result from Uefa European Championship Group E qualifier at Wembley Stadium, London, on Friday March 27, 2015, kick off 19.45

Wayne Rooney and Roy Hodgson - England vs Lithuania, Euro 2016 qualifier: live
England expects: Wayne Rooney (left), the international captain, and manager Roy Hodgson will be hoping to take a step towards qualifying for Euro 2016 on Friday night Credit: Photo: AFP

22.20 Cheers for reading and goodnight.

22.15 And finally, here is Paul Hayward's report.

This week the cry went up from the Football Association: “Are you sure you haven’t got a Harry Kane playing in your youth side?” Well, England had one on their bench against Lithuania in this zombie qualifying campaign, but the outrage was misplaced.

One touch and 79 seconds was all it took him to open his senior international account: a nod-down from a Raheem Sterling ball to the far post. The cinematic feel of Kane’s spectacular emergence at Spurs now extends to the international stage, where he wheeled away from his debut goal with the look of wonder we know so well from White Hart Lane.

Refusing to “succumb to the clamour” to fast-track Kane straight past one of his existing forwards, Roy Hodgson, the England manager, knew he was gambling on public opinion but backed a winner in the first hour, with Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck and Raheem Sterling all scoring. Thus Hodgson was able to stay loyal to a winning team and his favoured 4-3-3 formation while also granting Kane his special moment, on 72 minutes, with the game already won.

Read more on Harry Kane's England graduation here.

22.10 Here are the player ratings. Matt Law has given Raheem Sterling a six. Do you agree?

22.05 Here's Roy Hodgson, who I think is a little peeved to be fielding questions about a 73rd minute sub when the XI he picked had already won the game by then. I would not blame him.

Fantastic, we are delighted for him. As you say, a bit of a fairytale but it is nice when fairytales come true. But a couple of blows tonight - Sterling with his toe and then Welbeck has also picked up an injury. I think it is too early to put this type of pressure on Harry Kane, we should just enjoy him and be happy for him. Let's leave the future to the future.

England will never erase the memory of a wretched World Cup but their seventh win on the spin since Brazil was greeted rapturously by Wembley. There is hope for the future with Wayne Rooney leading the line like this, with Danny Welbeck playing as vibrantly as this, with Raheem Sterling lighting up the second half and Harry Kane, in pure Roy of the Rovers fashion, coming on for his debut and scoring within 79 seconds.

Roy Hodgson’s selection was right, his 4-1-2-3 tactics were right and the mood and intensity were also right. All of this comes with the very large caveat that Lithuania were desperately poor, but they had a decent keeper and England never let.

21.55 So then. Here are the five things Jeremy Wilson learned from tonight's match. Hit it, Jer:

Michael Carrick is England’s best holding midfielder

The stop-start nature of Michael Carrick’s international career is one of English football’s enduring mysteries. Good enough to win numerous trophies for Manchester United but apparently not for the national team. Good enough for Sir Alex Ferguson, and certainly now Louis van Gaal’s improved Manchester United team, but not for certain England managers. It is not even as if holding midfield has been one of the positions where we have many options. Carrick has been the best English player in that role for most of the past decade and showed that he remains the obvious starting choice even when Jack Wilshere returns from injury.

21.50 Picture news now.

21.45 So Harry Kane did it, despite a seven-minute wait to get on the pitch because they were flapping about with the fourth official board. He came on and scored on his debut.

Mind you - here's a cautionary tale! History shows that marking your first international with a goal means little - just ask Francis Jeffers, Kieran Richardson, David Nugent and Rickie Lambert.

21.41 Here is an interview with the man of the moment, Harry Kane: "It was the start I dreamed of. All a bit of a blur at the moment. I hope it'll be the first of many, this was the best moment of my career so far, by far."

Wayne: "We're all delighted for him. International football is a step up and he has done brilliantly."

FULL TIME: ENGLAND 4 LITHUANIA 0 As Paul Hayward writes in the match report that will be up online any second, "if England’s management could have scripted the game it would have looked a lot like this." Hodgson stuck to his guns and refused to change a winning formula to fit in the hot Harry Kane. Rooney, Sterling and Welbeck all scored within and hour as they ripped a very poor Lithuania apart. Roy then brought Kane on under his own terms, as it were, and the boy scored within a few seconds. Ideal. All as easy as pie for England. Stick around for the reaction, if you like.

90 mins: The game ends as it begun, with England well on top and looking for action. But there'll be no more tonight.

89 mins: England have a corner, and a chance for one of the big beasts from the back to get on the scoresheet. Nope, Baines pipes it right down the keeper's throat. Kazlauskas has just come on for Mikoliunas and has promptly picked up a yellow for kicking the ball away.

87 mins: Quide liderally if England could play these every week... well, not every week. But in every game. Then England would be a good side indeed. Here's Raheeeeeeem running from deep, plays it to Kane, good control, he plays it on to Walcott... but Ickle Theowaltrousers is offside,

85 mins: Really good move from England, Baines, Barkley, Kane all with neat touches but it's Delph who gets the chance. Screws it wide.

82 mins: The challenge from Sterling has done poor Andriuskevicius a real mischief. He is off on a stretcher. Vaidas Slavickas is on. Sterling seems to be okay to carry on.

79 mins: Sterling goes in for a hard challenge on Vytautas Andriuskevicius, he's reaching for the ball studs up. Both players in some paint. Ref, rather sweetly, is waiting patiently for Sterling to get himself together before showing him the yellow card.

77 mins: Very good from England again, Barkley involved this time.

76 mins: Theo Walcott is coming on. The excellent Welbeck comes off.

74 mins: England rampant. Sterling ripping Lith down the left, twisting, turning, great skill, hits it hard at goal. Deflected over. From the corner, it very nearly drops for the boy Kane! SCramble. Welbeck also on the sniff.

GOAL!

Harry Kane has done it! Fantastic! He owes a lot of it to Raheem Sterling, who has got it down the left. It looks like he has held onto it too long, ignoring the run of the overlapping Baines. Instead, he stands the ball up at the far post, and what do you know, there's Harry Kane to plant home the header and score with his second touch.

ENGLAND 4 LITHUANIA 0 (Kane 73)

71 mins: Well it's all quite exciting. Hope he scores. If not, meet you back here in half an hour for the backlash?

70 mins: Henderson off for Barkley, and here comes Harry Kane in favour of Rayne Wooney.

69 mins: Kane and Barkley have been waiting on the sidelines for ages!

68 mins: Owen Gibson on Twitter says that the reason Kane hasn't come on is because the fourth official's board broke.

65 mins: Yes, England's greatest living sportsperson is warming up on the bench. But first, Lithuania make a sub of their own. Simonas Stankevicius, who is sporting an impressive black eye, come son in favour of Tomas Mikuckis.

64 mins: Carrick gives it away cheaply and Deivydas Matulevicius fires... well over. Perhaps Carrick was distracted by THIS SIGHT.

62 mins: Rooney and Welbeck too good for this lot, but another fine move comes to an end as Henderson is caught offside.

59 mins: And that's within an inch or two of being four. Welbeck this time, free down the right, crosses and both Rooney and Sterling are posied to tap it in. Must have got a touch on the way through. By Zaliukas? I think. Should have been a corner.

GOAL!

And that's absolutely wrapped it up. Rooney down the right, crosses hard and low and Sterling gets his reward for a selfless supporting run as he finds himself Johnny on the spot for a tap-in.

ENGLAND 3 LITHUANIA 0 (Sterling 58)

55 mins: A pretty muted atmosphere at Wembley, but nobody's told Danny Welbeck. He's burst into the area now and is down under pressure from Tadas Kijanskas. Not sure if he was touched or not. Anyway no pen given.

50 mins: Welbeck owning this game, sorry Harry Kane fans. He's exploded down the right again and smashed a shot at goal, albeit one that was unlikely to go in, given the angle. Nearly takes the keeper's arm off blocking it. Lith deal with the corner ok.

48 mins: Excellent football! Good composure from England's attacking talents, linking up well, patient, and Rooney eventually picks out Fab Delph with a clever pass. The Aston Villa man sets himself and hits a good solid volley at the keeper. EXCELLENT save from Giedrius Arlauskis. Great reactions. Palms it around the post, and the boys clear the corner.

46 mins: Well not at half-time, he won't. We're back underway, Kane-free.

20.45 Will Kane get on?

20.44 Looking again, Welbz will deffo get that goal. Deflection, sure, but would have gone in anyway.

20.43 An email arrives from Angus Fraser about England's main striker:

As Rooney approaches the milestone there are bound to be comparisons between the styles of these two prolific scorers. It would be fascinating to see whether Sir Bobby would have adapted as Rooney has to recent advances. Personally I like to think he would have stuck with the comb over.

20.38 Good goal, the opener. Played forward, nice touch Sterling. Into the path of Welbeck, powerful shot, decent save but the rebound straight to Rooney for a simple header. Welbeck having a good game, and will likely have the second goal credited to him - that'll make six in the competition so far. Rooney has a goal and has hit both post and bar. Everyone wanted to see Harry Kane, but Roy can point to the performance of his chosen front two with satisfaction.

HALF TIME: ENGLAND 2 LITHUANIA 0 That goal right on the stroke of half time should settle England down perfectly. They were way on top, but at 1-0, they did have the odd half moment of mild concern. A goal each for Rooney and Welbeck (although I wouldn't be amazed to see that chalked up as an OG) and now it's just a question of how many.

GOAL!

England have bundled it in. Henderson curls in a cross, Welbeck stoops to head it at goal, and it has come off Tadas Kijanskas. Are going to give it to Welbz? I think so. Rooney briefly claimed it, but then thought better of it.

ENGLAND 2 LITHUANIA 0 (Welbeck 44)

42 mins: England's Welbeck set free by Sterling, he goes over rather easily and the ref doesn't buy his penalty claim. Nor should he.

39 mins: Ridic handball from Zaliukas of Lithuania. I would have sent him off on the spot, although that would just been for the Hearts angle. Even clutching his face doesn't stay the referee's hand.

38 mins: England fans in traditional pose - slumped, looking pained. Cheer up chaps. We will probably win this game, and then who knows? Glorious group stage exit in Europ 2016 is our oyster. NB Also that ITV's score indicator thing is basically in the centre of the screen.

38 mins: Rooney curls it around the wall but that was easy for the keeper.

36 mins: Well, all England as I say, but they need the second. Should have plenty of chances, at least. Welbeck and Rooney play a one-two. Arturas Zulpa fouls Welbz on the edge of the area. Henderson shoots wide (again) but it doesn't matter too much because England have been given a freekick just outside the D

32 mins: And sure enough, Lithuania have damn nearly scored! Their Vytautas Andriuskevicius makes a decent run down the left and centres hard, the imposing number nine Deivydas Matulevicius slides in and is not far away at all.

31 mins: England being England, you'll not be truly confident until they get the second, but they're doing everything but. Here is Henderson with a cross from the right. Baines latches onto it and should have done better with men inside to his right.

28 mins: Lithuania having a moment, though. They get down the left, cross half cleared, then have a chance to play the ball into the box. Overhit.

25 mins: Very tight offside flag goes against Welbeck, good through ball from Hendo. Not at all sure that was the right call.

22 mins: Sterling all over the Lithuanians, exchanges passes with Baines and they work it back to Henderson. He stabs a shot well wide.

21 mins: Lithuania have had another attack though, sorta kinda

20 mins: I am prepared to bet that it isn't, Sir Gary.

17 mins: Superb from Welbeck, who is having his fullback lightly sauteed on a bed of leaves. He tears down the right, stands the ball up, and there's that man Rooney with time to plant a loopy header from distance... that hits the bar. Ooh, close. Hendo Henderson can't do the business with the follow-up.

14 mins: Rare moment for Lith as they get a corner - and from it an ambitious overhead kickfrom Tomas Mikuckis that some of the Lithuanian players like the thought of a handball as it carroms into an England defender. Montenegro v Russia has been suspended. Igor Akinfeev hit by a flare thrown from the crowd.

11 mins: Georgas Freidgeimas stops Welbeck just on the edge of the area, got the ball, good tackle. Welbz went down because the guy caught his ankle as well. Ref makes a good decision and does nothing. SO often the best decision, in life as in sport.

10 mins: Jordan Henderson dibble from deep.

9 mins: England absolutely all over these, second goal feels like it's coming, Delph down the left, wins a corner, and the men in green and gold just about clear the lines.

GOAL!

But Rooney makes no mistake this time! A great run down the right from Welbeck, pace and strength and skill. He lets fly with a powerful shot, well parried by the keeper but unlucky for him, right into the path of Rooney, who plants that big old potato head on it for the opening goal.

ENGLAND 1 LITHUANIA 0 (Rooney 6)

4 mins: Rooney! He breaks clear of the defence and latches onto the ball, shows good composure and plants the ball past the keeper from 15 yards... it hits the post and rolls across the goal-line. Oooh, close. Probably should have tucked that away, our Wayne.

3 mins: Chvedukas has given Baines a sore, although I think not malicious, knock on the ankle.

2 mins: "Perhaps England can make that extra man count in the centre of midfield and then get it out to Sterling," says Andy Townsend, a perfectly interesting and insightful piece of analysis.

What's going on tonight at ITV?!

1 mins: Kick off! England are on the front foot right away, Sterling beavering away down the right in what looks like a 4-3-3. The Lithuanians in a 4-2-3-1.

19.42 Time for a) some emails b) the anthems and c) a picture of Harry Kane with a puss on.

Raymond Reardon writes:

After missing a penalty against Liverpool, will the villainous Wayne Rooney knock out the prospects of the Vilnius based Lithuanians from the 2016 Euro qualification or will Harry Kane's England debut against the green and gold of the Baltic result in the same angst for England as Wayne Rooney's debut in a 1-3 loss to the green and gold of Australia in 2003 ?

Meanwhile, Lauren Gallagher says:

I've got mixed feelings about the team selection. I'm glad Roy has finally seen the importance Carrick can be to a team. We've seen his performances with United, he pulls the strings & brings composure to the team. But I don't see why he wouldn't start Kane, he's been incredible this season. The only harm Kane would've caused being in the line up would've been to Lithuania. It's staggering the turn out at Wembley tonight, I think we sometimes forget & under appreciate the support the team receives. You wouldn't see this kind of support anywhere in Europe, I think its testament to the passion we have for football in this country.

19.40 Normal service is resumed though with Wrighty, saying that it's not right that Kane doesn't get a chance tonight because "not to be disrespectful, well I am going to be a bit, but it's Lithuania and he won't get a chance until Italy." So just to clear it up, he's so brilliant he has to play but we can't expect him to do well against a good team?

19.38 Pre-match interview with Roy Hodgson:

System in place and a group of players in place that have done well for us. Harry will get his chance. Carrick is the ideal replacement for Jack Wilshere, similar type of player and we will hope he will keep us playing. We expect a tough test from Lithuania, teams raise their game when we come here.

19.35 Graham Wills is another man who is annoyed about Harry K:

What an absurd decision. Premier league top scorer can't make it into a starting XI? #kane

19.31 Credit where it's due, Glenn Hoddle, Lee Dixon and Ian Wright, well chaired by Pougatch, have just had an interesting, informative and informed discussion about the role of Under-21 fixtures and tournaments. Good work.

19.26 England fans at the ground, online, and some in the meeja seem certain that Roy has got this decision about Kane is the wrong one. The following tweet is quite typical, from what I can see:

19.22 "Harry Kane! Harry Kane! Harry Kane!" says Wrighty. More or less. But I agree with Ian Wright. English football has so few feelgood stories that we can hardly afford to pass up the one of the fast-improving lad who has already scored 29 goals this season for his local team.

19.19 "I don't think it's a conservative move to use Welbeck," says Lee Dixon. "Carrick can make them tick, he has the range of passing. Carrick won't be around for five years, this is a short-term system but Carrick can run a game and you have to play the players who are fit."

19.18 "Roy has gone for loyalty with Welbeck," Glenn. "He will be a fit for the midfield system, meaning that we can use a diamond or a 4-3-3 and release those players up top."

19.16 Carrick makes first start in 17 months.

19.14 Just to recap, England are top of group E, having won all four of their games. GD of +10. Lithuania are one of three teams on six points, alongside Slovenia and the Swiss. Lithuania have the worst GD by some distance of the trio, having been badly mauled 4-0 in Switzerland in their last match.

Slovenia have a chance to boost their own goal difference tonight; they're playing San Marino.

19.12 Here be the teams in full.

England: Hart, Clyne, Cahill, Jones, Baines, Henderson, Carrick, Delph, Sterling, Welbeck, Rooney. Subs: Butland, Smalling, Walcott, Jagielka, Milner, Townsend, Kane, Mason, Barkley, Gibbs, Walker, Green.

Lithuania: Arlauskis, Freidgeimas, Kijanskas, Mikuckis, Zaliukas, Andriuskevicius, Zulpa, Mikoliunas, Chvedukas, Cernych, Matulevicius. Subs: Zubas, Vicius, Vaitkunas, Sirgedas, Kazlauskas, Luksa, Beniusis, Slavickas, Panka, Stankevicius, Borovskij, Cerniauskas.

Referee: Pavel Kralovec (Czech Republic)

19.10 Your post-match ratings, pre-match:

19.09 One man who will be under scrutiny tonight is Mark Pougatch, making his international debut for England ITV football.

19.06 Emmerdale now! Well, the casting call went out for

"Blonde barmaid with large bust"

And this lady answered it in some style. Goodness gracious.

She's talking to some other women in a pub - The Woolpack, I would imagine, although my information is out of date. Anyway, it's all pretty riveting stuff, but more importantly for our purposes, it means that there are just a very few minutes until the football starts. Emmerdale is over.

19.01 WE WANT KANE!

19.00 Stupid Michael with his stupid sensible arguments.

18.59 I think Robbie reckons England should beat Lithuania, and that Kane should be the man to do it.

18.58 I really need to know.

18.57 A team England should welcome? Should model themselves on? Should offer a cup of tea to?

18.55 Robbie Savage is putting food on the table by doing punditry for one of those like-Twitter-but-not-exactly 'hangout' sites. Here he is tweeting:

But when I click through on the link I cannot see what the conclusion of Robbie's sentence is.

18.52 An unnecessarily large picture of Henry's picture of the match programme. Sorry about that.

18.47 Aw man. I was really hoping that Sir Harold of Kane would be in the starting line-up.

18.46 Here is the team.

England: Hart, Clyne, Cahill, Jones, Baines, Henderson, Carrick, Delph, Sterling, Welbeck and Rooney.

18.45 No Harry Kane in the XI!

18.35 Dunno if this makes me a rat or a Communist or whatever, but I secretly (well, not anymore - I've just typed it out in black and white to the Telegraph live blogs' millions* of readers) enjoy it when other smaller football countries do well against us in qualifiers. England will almost certainly qualify for the show in 2016: I just find it hard to get as irate about the process as some. No doubt there will be people out there tonight demanding that England beat this lot 10-0, and that none of these would get anywhere an England squad, and what the hell is wrong with our team. Some of these people will be working for ITV.

* figure to be audited later.

18.30 Good evening football fans! Any Lithuanians in? Hope so. Malonu susipažinti if so. Just looking at a Lithuanian phrasebook here and, after the usual Hellos and thank yous, coming in easily in the top 20 most useful phrases is...

Šis vyras užmokės už viską or Ši moteris užmokės už viską

Translation?

"This gentleman/lady will pay for everything".

Lithuanians: I like your style.

I will bring you the team news as I have it. Will Kane start? That would rock.

-----

Alan Tyers will be here with all the build-up, team news and general pre-match hullabaloo from 6.30 pm so be sure to come back then, in the meantime here's what Wayne Rooney has been saying about Harry Kane who is expecting to make his England debut this evening...

Rooney has backed the "sizzling" Kane to be an England star for many years to come.

Kane's extremely successful season will reach a new high on Friday if - as is expected - he makes his England debut in the Euro 2016 qualifier against Lithuania at Wembley.

The 21-year-old started the campaign as third-choice striker at Tottenham, but just seven months later he has scored 29 goals and is now being compared to Alan Shearer.

Kane has been training alongside Rooney all week at St George's Park and at Tottenham's training base in Enfield.

And it is safe to say the Manchester United striker has been impressed by what he has seen from his fellow front man this year.

"It is great to see a young English striker come through, scoring goals," the England captain said.

"He was scoring goals earlier in the season in the Europa League and not starting in the Premier League. Then he got his chance in the Premier League and he has taken it with both hands.

"I hope it continues because he is in sizzling form at the minute. If he does continue that [form] then he has a bright future."

There was a touch of nostalgia about Rooney's media briefing on the eve of the Lithuania game at the team hotel in Watford.

England fans remember how Rooney burst on to the scene in 2003, providing the only positive in what was an otherwise dismal defeat to Australia.

One year later he was hailed as one of the best on the planet at Euro 2004.

But now he is the mentor and it is time for Kane to take his chance to shine on the international stage.

"When it was my debut I wanted to get out there and play as quickly as I could and I'm sure Harry will be the same," Rooney said.

"He'll be lying in bed tonight hoping that he'll make his England debut tomorrow. I can imagine that. I know because I've felt the same feeling, the excitement he'll have tonight."

Eagle-eyed photographers spotted that Hodgson had paired Kane and Rooney up front on a formation written on a scrap of paper during training earlier this week.

The England manager insisted that did not necessarily mean he would start the youngster against Lithuania though.

Hodgson is fiercely loyal to those who have served him well in his two years at the helm and Danny Welbeck certainly falls into that category.

The Arsenal front man is England's top scorer in qualifying with five goals.

Hodgson was not giving much away on the night before the match.

"I can see [Kane] making his full senior debut over the course of these next two games. That is all I can give you," Hodgson said with a grin.

"Welbeck is still very much in contention as is Wayne Rooney and now of course we have Harry Kane, who has burst on the scene and we have seen (Raheem) Sterling playing up front so the choice is good.

"It's up to me to decide from that group of players which two or three we are going to use."

Hot-shot: Harry Kane celebrates another goal

Hodgson once bemoaned a supposed dearth of English striking talent, but now he has the three options for this double-header, and Daniel Sturridge, who was "absolutely devastated" to miss the upcoming games through injury, the 67-year-old said.

England also have Saido Berahino, Danny Ings and Charlie Austin - who have scored 36 league goals between them this season - pushing to get into the squad and Rooney feels this is the strongest collection of forwards he has worked with during his international career.

"Without doubt," Rooney said. "Certainly over the last few years, we've got a talented group of strikers.

"Sturridge has come back recently after a long-term injury, Harry Kane has been doing well all season and scoring goals, Welbeck has been scoring goals, and myself - I've been scoring again since I've gone back up front. We're doing well, and we're fighting for those one or two places available up front."

Hodgson will assess Sterling after the game before deciding whether to release him for the Italy match.

James Milner could also return to Manchester City too as he has been playing with a knee problem, Hodgson revealed.

England can strengthen their position at the top of Group E with their fifth straight win.

Hodgson was coy on whether his team's form would be enough to earn him a new contract, but he got the unequivocal backing of his captain.

"Since I've worked with Roy, he's been fantastic for me and the team," Rooney said while sitting alongside Hodgson. "Hopefully they'll sit down and sort it out and we'll have a few more years with him."