Wayne Rooney Becomes The First England Player To Bag 30 Competitive Goals In Their Win Against San Marino

Wayne Rooney became the first English player to score goals as England thump San Marino 5-0 at Wembley.

Rooney scored a penalty and could have scored more as England dominated the tie, the goal brings Rooney’s total to 42, fourth-place behind Jimmy Greaves with 44, Gary Lineker on 48 and Sir Bobby Charlton’s 49.

But Rooney is the first to secure 30 competitive goals.

Teammate Jack Wilshere had this to say: “We did what we had to do. We knew we would win, it was just a matter of keeping going. Once we scored we knew we could get a few.

“We showed them respect. I enjoy getting forward and it was nice. It wasn’t against one of the best nations in the world but we had a job to do and we did it.”

Rooney was close to securing  a brace in the 77^th minute but his cross was deflected in by Alessandro Delle Valle for an own goal.

San Marino, the joint lowest ranked team in the world, had their keeper Aldo Simoncini to thank for several good saves to keep the score down.

Goals from  Rooney, Phil Jagielka, Danny Welbeck and Andros Townsend made the night more than comfortable for the England team.

It was hard work until Jagielka opened the scoring in the 25th minute and then Rooney netted from the spot.

But the introduction of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Adam Lallana as half time substitutes changed the game for England.

They upped the tempo, made it two wins out of two for England in Group E as they boosted their goal difference before Sunday’s trip to Estonia.

Culled from the herald