Lithuania 0-3 England: Ross Barkley and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain help Three Lions complete qualification campaign with perfect 10

The perfect 10. Well 10, anyway. As Roy Hodgson admitted on the eve of the game, it is difficult to get carried away with talk of perfection after a procession past opponents like Lithuania.

 

Two goals in the first half came laced with good fortune, but the final score reflected the comfort enjoyed by England’s second string in Vilnius.

 

Hodgson’s team could have done no more than win every game, scoring 31 and conceding only three, and the manager will have been quietly pleased with the spirit of this young team.

Not only did they complete the 100 per cent record with a deflected Ross Barkley strike, an own goal and another smacked into the top corner by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

 

But they also took the random elements of a plastic pitch, freezing temperatures and a crowd disturbances in their collective stride.

 

There can be no doubt the England have the quality, professionalism and focused minds required to grind ordinary opponents into the artificial turf.

 

That is what this campaign proves if it proves anything. Whether they actually possess the class, style and depth to test Europe’s best teams in France next summer remains to be seen.

 

Plenty of doubts linger. Upcoming friendlies against Spain, France, Germany and Holland will offer clues, but no-one will know if real progress has been made until next summer, a time of year when English footballers are often collapsing in exhaustion.

 

For Lithuania boss Igoris Pankratjevas it marked the end of the journey. 'Everything has its ending, goodbye,' said Pankratjevas gloomily, and he quit after finishing fifth in Group E, with only San Marino below.

 

For, Hodgson it was marked the start as he turns his mind towards the real task of producing a major tournament performance to banish the memories of the World Cup in Brazil.

 

From Vilnius, he will bank his positives. Barkley is maturing into a creative midfield talent capable of influencing games, while Harry Kane, responsible for the second goal which was credited to the Lithuania goalkeeper, continues to impress with his work-rate and determination to hit the target.

 

There was an effective and energetic debut off the bench from Danny Ings. There were a few more minutes of experience for teenage midfielder Dele Alli, and a second cap for goalkeeper Jack Butland, for whom the night amounted to little more than a save in each half.

 

The game ended in a frozen silence, but it had started in chaos as the riot police piled into the crowd behind Butland’s goal. 

 

Most of the pre-match attention had been focused on the artificial playing surface but the pitch stood up to the test better than the rest of the venue. 

 

Hodgson was annoyed by a camera stationed on the half-way line which obscured the view from his dug-out, so the England boss spent most of the match positioned in to the corner of his technical area, hands deep in pockets.