England 5 San Marino 0: Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain bag goals in comfortable win

Wayne Rooney, playing as captain, struck his 30th and 31st international goals to move up to fifth in England's all-time scorers' list, Danny Welbeck added a brace of his own and Arsenal's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored his first international goal as Roy Hodgson's men plundered strikes which could prove valuable should the battle to reach Brazil go to the wire.

The result lifts England into first place in the group, above Montenegro, who do not play until Tuesday night when Roy Hodgson's men visit Poland.

Nonetheless, there was toil here at times for the home side, who did not take the lead until the 35th minute when San Marino goalkeeper Aldo Junior Simoncini brought down Welbeck in the area. Rooney struck home the resultant penalty to the obvious relief of Hodgson, who had been huffing and puffing on the sidelines until that point as Simoncini's goal had by no means been under siege before England's opener.

As would be the case in the second half though, England's goals came in pairs, with Welbeck adding a second on 38 minutes, mimicking a cheeky back-heeled effort against Sweden at Euro 2012 to leave Hodgson breathing a little easier as he headed into the tunnel at half-time.

The England manager's night had got off to a bad start when the at times erratic Simoncini clattered into Walcott with the duo competing for a loose ball. The Arsenal winger eventually left the field on a stretcher after laying prone on the Wembley turf for some four minutes and looks a real doubt for the match against Poland.

The 84,654 cheered England out for the second half in the hope of more goals. Yet they had to wait until the 69th minute for a third when Rooney bent an effort in from the edge of the area. Up popped Welbeck two minutes later, the Manchester United striker poking home from Tom Cleverley's cross.

Rooney exited proceedings for Andy Carroll, but, though Oxlade-Chamberlain curled an effort home to match his father Mark's tally of one goal for his country, England made less headway than Hodgson would have hoped in their attempts to put San Marino to the sword.

As it was, 5-0 was just about right. A heavy defeat, but not a humiliation for the microstate, who defended doggedly given their resources and can return home with their heads held high.