A second-half blitz saw England sweep past 10-player Republic of Ireland 5-0 at Wembley to clinch promotion back to League A of the Nations League in Lee Carsley’s final game as interim manager.
Three goals in just six minutes at the start of the second half from Harry Kane – via a penalty in an incident that saw Ireland defender Liam Scales sent off after a second caution – followed by maiden strikes from Anthony Gordon and Conor Gallagher blew the visitors away.
Jarrod Bowen soon added a fourth with his first touch after coming on as a substitute, before Taylor Harwood-Bellis headed home a fifth as a third player got off the mark for the Three Lions.
Ireland had initially done an excellent job to largely frustrate England in a feisty first half that ended with Carsley’s side having 75 per cent possession, but without having tested visiting goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis celebrates after scoring England’s fifth goal against Republic of Ireland
So much so that England tempers boiled over on the stroke of half-time as Kane and Jayson Molumby squared up to each other, with both players booked as Heimir Halgrimsson’s team deservedly went in level at the break.
Things could possibly have gone even better for Ireland, already sure of third place in the group, had two penalty appeals gone their way. However, Belgian referee Erik Lambrechts waved away both appeals and those incidents were soon forgotten as England finally made the breakthrough eight minutes after the break.
Kane’s inch-perfect, raking cross-field pass found Jude Bellingham in space in the box, with Scales only able to bring the midfielder down with his trailing leg as he cut back inside to shoot. The Celtic defenders earned a second booking for his troubles – his first was delaying a re-start – and Kane easily sent Kelleher the wrong way from the spot for his 69th international goal.
Minutes later, England doubled their advantage after a mix-up in the visitors’ defence allowed Tino Livramento to centre for Gordon to stylishly volley home at the back post, before Gallagher tapped in after Marc Guehi had nodded on Noni Madueke’s corner.
Harshly for Ireland, the goals kept on coming in the final quarter of an hour as Bowen swept home with his very touch after coming on following a cleverly-worked corer routine, and then fellow substitute Harwood-Bellis rose well to guide Angel Gomes’ cross back past a helpless Kelleher.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis scores England’s fifth goal against Republic of Ireland
As a result Carsley, described as “top drawer” by Kane after the game, achieved the objective set out to him when he took temporary charge of the team by guiding them back to League A of the Nations League.
What the managers said…
England boss Lee Carsley:
“I wanted the England team to be exciting to watch, be attacking,” he told ITV. “I see them day in, day out on the training ground and now people have seen it.
“It’s given the staff and myself the confidence we can do the job. You always doubt yourself, whether you could do it or not.
“There’s a lot of England managers sat in the house picking the team and to have the responsibility to do that and the trust from my bosses has been a massive boost of confidence.”
“I think it was a good performance. The way we started the game we played with real intent and it was frustrating to come off 0-0 at half-time but I believed that we’d score goals if we just kept doing what we spoke about and it was great we got our rewards in the end.
“It was a great evening for a lot of the players. The main thing was getting promotion, what we set out to do, so it was pleasing in that respect.”
What’s next?
England turn their attention to the World Cup qualifying draw on December 13.
All eight Nations League quarter-finalists are in Pot 1 of the World Cup draw, which will be completed by the four countries with the best FIFA world ranking.
England and Belgium are guaranteed to take Pot 1 slots as they are ranked fourth and sixth in the world respectively. As it stands, Switzerland and Austria will take the other two Pot 1 places.
