Gareth Southgate started his reign as England’s interim manager with a comfortable win against minnows Malta at Wembley.
Southgate – in charge for four games following Sam Allardyce’s departure after the single World Cup qualifying win in Slovakia – had an untroubled opening as England easily overcame a Malta side merely intent on damage limitation.
Daniel Sturridge’s clever header from Jordan Henderson’s cross opened the scoring after 29 minutes and any notion this would be a contest against the side ranked 176th by Fifa ended when Dele Alli scrambled home a second before half-time.
Only Malta’s heroic goalkeeper Andrew Hogg stood between England and further goals with fine saves from Alli, Wayne Rooney, Theo Walcott and debutant Jesse Lingard as the hosts made it maximum points from two qualifiers.
