• Euro 2012 qualifying

England cruise to victory in Bulgaria

Ashley Young set up Wayne Rooney's second goal © Getty Images

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Wayne Rooney ensured England took one step closer to qualification for Euro 2012 after a comfortable 3-0 win over Bulgaria in Sofia.

The Manchester United striker found the net twice after Gary Cahill scored his first international goal as Fabio Capello's men continued their 100 per cent away record in qualifying.

In only his fourth start for England, Cahill opened his international account to settle England's nerves after a scrappy start. The Bulgarian defence failed to clear their lines, and Gareth Barry clipped the ball to Cahill, who chested the ball down before poking a shot beneath keeper Nikolay Mihailov.

Rooney doubled England's lead just eight minutes later, beating his captain John Terry to Stewart Downing's corner, sending a powerful header into the top corner.

With Frank Lampard left on the bench, Scott Parker and Barry took control of the midfield, with Ashley Young playing behind his United team-mate Rooney. And the pair showed impressive understanding as Rooney ensured England went into the break with a three-goal advantage, after a well-worked move between Young and Theo Walcott, with Young finding Rooney, who slotted the ball home to make it three.

With the three points all but secured, England sat back in the second half, but Bulgaria rarely troubled Joe Hart's goal. The City keeper was forced to make an instinctive save after a Bulgaria corner, but it nearly resulted in a fourth for England. Walcott was swift on the counter-attack, and his cross was met by Downing, whose looping header rattled the post, before Parker's long-range effort was pushed away by Mihailov.

Rooney had the chance to complete his hat-trick in the dying stages, but he couldn't stretch far enough to reach James Milner's cross, and just moments later Rooney brought down another cross from Milner, but he was unable to get his shot away.

England are now three points clear at the top of Group G after Wales claimed their first win of the campaign with a 2-1 win at home to Montenegro.

Steve Morison scored his first goal for Wales to give the home side the lead in Cardiff, pouncing after Mladen Bozovic failed to deal with David Vaughan's cross. Aaron Ramsey doubled Wales' lead shortly after half-time, drilling a low strike into the net from Gareth Bale's pull-back.

Stevan Jovetic pulled one back for the visitors, but Wales hung on for a well-earned victory. However, it was not all good news for Gary Speed's men, as Craig Bellamy picked up a yellow card which will see him miss Wales' trip to Wembley on Tuesday.

A poor Steven Davis backpass gifted Serbia a 1-0 victory over Northern Ireland. Marko Pantelic picked up the ball before rounding Lee Camp to slot home with 20 minutes left on the clock, and Jonny Evans added to Nigel Worthington's woes, picking up a yellow card which will see him suspended for their trip to Estonia on Tuesday.

Robbie Keane squandered a host of chances as Republic of Ireland were held to a goalless draw at home to Slovakia.

Meanwhile, Robin van Persie scored four as Netherlands ran up double figures against San Marino with an 11-0 win as they moved to the brink of qualification.

Germany qualified in style with an emphatic 6-2 win over Austria which could well spell the end of Dietmar Constantini's reign as Austria's coach.

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