England vs Moldova Review and Match Report

Graphics and Editing by Conor Rees

England leapfrogged Montenegro and should now be favourites to book a place in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil after brushing aside Moldova at Wembley.

 Goals from Steven Gerrard, Rickie Lambert and a brace from Danny Welbeck in front of an expectant crowd and settled nerves ahead of a crucial night on Tuesday where the new group H leaders will play Ukraine in Kiev.

Starting as they were meaning to go on, England set the pace early on with Gerrard drilling a low shot past the Moldovan goalkeeper with only eleven minutes gone.

With Moldova’s Goalkeeper Namasco having a dreadful night between the sticks it  seemed to inspire England to keep the pressure on and It got better for England fifteen minutes later, after a lot of persistence  put on the Moldovan backline through the three lions attack, they eventually caved with Lambert nodding in from 6 yards.

England however suffered a blow shortly before half time, with Welbeck receiving a yellow card for kicking the ball away after failing to hear the referee’s whistle for the halt in play, ruling him out of the crucial tie in 4 days. Though there was less than a second between the whistle blow and the time the ball left Welbeck's foot.

It didn’t seem to affect him though as less than a minute later as Lambert sent a teasing ball past the centre back for Welbeck to run on to, slotting past the goalkeeper, who was caught horrendously out of position to see England go in 3-0 at the break.

Out for the Second half, Roy Hodgson took a cautious approach ahead of Tuesday night with Ashley Cole, who like Welbeck was on a yellow card heading into this game and was replaced by Leighton Baines, as Hodgson tried to keep his stars safe from discipline.

The Three Lions started fast and their pace was rewarded with another goal from Welbeck after a sweeping pass out wide to Lambert from Gerrard who crossed in to Welbeck’s feet for him to dink the ball over the hapless keeper to make it 4-0.

Moldova very rarely threatened with their best chance coming late in the second half with a shot from the number ten Dedov sailing over Joe Hart’s goal, in what was an uneventful night for the England goalkeeper.

James Milner could have put the icing on the cake with the last chance of the game after a free kick from the right side of the area, he found himself in acres of space with only the keeper to beat but managed to hit the ball high over the cross bar.

Overall an easy win for England, and a dominant display, which can hopefully be carried on for their three remaining fixtures in Group H.

England: Hart,  Walker, Cole (Baines – 45’ ), Cahill, Jagielka, Gerrard, Walcott, Lampard, Wilshere (Barkley – 59’ ), Welbeck, Lambert (Milner – 70’ ) SUB: Ruddy, Forster, Smalling, Baines, Carrick, Cleverley, Milner, Barkley, Young, Sterling, Townsend, Defoe

Moldova: Namasco, Armas, Golovatenco, Epureanu, Bulgaru (Suvorov – 57’ ), Bordiyan, Ionita (Onica – 19’ ), Antoniuc, Dedov, Gheorghiev (Pascenco – 84’ ), Sidorenco SUB: Pascenco, Cebanu, Racu, Boestean, Erhan, Onica, Cebotaru, Suvorov, Pascenco, Gheorghe, Andronic, Doros, Grosu

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