England secured promotion back to the top tier of the Nations League with a 5-0 romp over 10-man Ireland in interim manager Lee Carsley’s last game in charge at Wembley on Sunday.
After a turgid first half, Harry Kane‘s penalty, Anthony Gordon‘s volley and a tap-in by Conor Gallagher in the space of five minutes at the start of the second broke Ireland’s resolve.
Jarrod Bowen made it 4-0 with a crisp shot from the edge of the area, his first touch after coming off the bench, before debutant Taylor Harwood-Bellis headed England’s fifth.
Ireland played virtually the whole of the second half with 10 men after Liam Scales was sent off for a foul on Jude Bellingham that resulted in England’s penalty.
Photo by Justin Setterfield – The FA/The FA via Getty Images
England finished top of Group B2 with 15 points from six games, the same as Greece but with a superior goal difference in the two games between the two nations.
Carsley will now hand over the reins to Thomas Tuchel having won five of his six games in charge and with some useful pointers for the German who takes charge in January.
While it was no surprise to see Kane on the scoresheet for his 69th England goal, England’s four other scorers all notched their first senior international goals.
Carsley also gave first starts to Newcastle United full backs Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall while Southampton‘s Harwood-Bellis celebrated his first cap with a goal.
England gave a large Sunday evening crowd nothing to get excited about in a tedious first half in which neither side managed a single effort on target.
But the floodgates opened when Kane’s superb pass found Jude Bellingham in the area and as he tried to cut inside Scales, the Celtic defender hacked him down to concede a penalty and earn himself a second yellow card and Kane tucked away the spot kick.
Ireland then collapsed. Gordon steered in a volley to double the home side’s advantage and Gallagher prodded in after a corner was flicked on.
Bowen and Harwood-Bellis then put the icing on the cake.
