England 3 Estonia 0
13 October 2007

Attendance: 86,655

Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard led the England team out at Wembley Stadium to face Estonia with normal skipper John Terry out with a knee injury. Wayne Rooney returned to the side after missing the last two qualifiers at Wembley after breaking his metatarsal. Gareth Barry’s impressive performances against Israel and Russia were rewarded with a starting place at the expense of Frank Lampard who dropped to the bench.

Michael Owen came close for England in the first minute but he was blocked by Estonia keeper Mart Poom – the only English based player in the Estonia squad.

England opened the scoring in the eleventh minute as Micah Richards’ pass cut through the Estonian defence to be met by Shaun Wright-Phillips who beat keeper Poom on his nearside. An audacious lob from Rooney nearly doubled the lead as England continued to press.

Rooney finally put his poor scoring form for England to rest with a low shot drilled in just past the half hour mark. Rooney’s previous competitive goal for England had been in the Euro 2004 Championships in Portugal, over three years ago. A third goal for England came seconds after Rooney’s, as Estonia’s Taavi Rahn headed an Ashley Cole cross into his own net from outside the box.

Everton’s Jolean Lescott made his international debut as he replaced Rio Ferdinand at the start of the second half. Ashley Cole was then the next player to be substituted as he nastily turned his ankle in a collision and was replaced by Phil Neville.

With one eye on England’s forthcoming trip to Russia in four days time, in-form striker Michael Owen became Steve McClaren’s third and final substitution with Lampard replacing the Newcastle striker.

After a few half chances in the second half, England seemed keen on replicating the score line from their last two visits to Wembley. Gareth Barry looked to have cemented his transition from England bit part squad member to influential player as he was named man of the match.

England return to Wembley Stadium on Wednesday 21 November to face Croatia for their final qualifying match for the Euro 2008 Championships.