LITHUANIA 0, ENGLAND 1
Harry Kane scored again, his seventh international goal in six games for England – and fourth as captain – on the artificial pitch in Vilnius as Lithuania and England contributed little to nothing to an utterly forgettable rainswept game.
With a place in the Russia World Cup in 2018 already assured English boss Gareth Southgate decided to experiment with a 3-man defence after sealing World Cup qualification against Slovenia at Wembley last Thursday and chose to hand England debuts to Harry Maguire and Harry Winks.
In fact Southgate rang the changes with just Marcus Rashford, Harry Kane, Jordan Henderson, and John Stones retaining their places in the side as Dele Alli returned from suspension and was joined by several fringe members of the England squad.
Alli was tripped in the area after a sterile first quarter of the game giving England’s captain the chance to sweep his penalty in off the left hand post after 27 minutes.
England ‘keeper Jack Butland had to be alert to prevent what could have been an embarassing own goal shortly after the start of the second half by Michael Keane who was trying to put a speculative cross by Fiodor Cernych out for a corner but dreadfully miscalculated.
Cernych also contrived to hit a good chance wide later in the second half while Hibernian striker Deivydas Matulevicius fired straight at Butland when clean though but England remained generally in control despite lacking much attacking verve.
Aaron Cresswell almost produced another goal but was denied by Lithuania’s Ernestas Setkus but in truth there was little else positive about the game apart from another decent performance by Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford.
What will worry Southgate is the relative lack of creativity from England’s midfield going into the World Cup.
There’s willing runners but little sign of killer passes coming from the centre of the park – meaning that England could be one-dimensional without that spark of imagination if the delivery from the flanks fails.
ENGLAND
(3-5-2): Butland, Keane, Stones, Maguire, Trippier, Henderson, Winks, Cresswell, Rashford (Sturridge 72), Alli (Lingard 81), Kane
Subs: Smalling, Pickford, Walker, Cahill, Dier, Livermore, Defoe, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Sturridge, Sterling, Lingard, Forster