IT WAS by no means the perfect performance but England maintained their perfect start in competitive football under Fabio Capello with a crushing victory over Kazakhstan. A 5-1 win last night, the third in three World Cup qualifying matches under the Italian, left England with a two-point lead in Group 6 and goal difference advantage after Ukraine and Croatia drew 0-0 in Kharkov.

Wayne Rooney, sporting a fierce military-style haircut, was Capello’s on-field general, scoring twice after moving inside when Capello switched from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 at half-time. Capello was “not happy with the first 45 minutes”, which were goalless, but he left Wembley stadium beaming. Another win on Wednesday, in Belarus, would leave England racing certainties to reach the 2010 finals in South Africa.

Capello has not yet completely transformed the team he inherited from Steve McClaren, however, and there were shadows of the old defensive frailties when Zhambyl Kukeyev pulled back a goal for Kazakhstan after a Rio Ferdinand header and an own goal had given England a 2-0 lead. Kukeyev’s strike followed a dreadful error by Ashley Cole which resulted in a minority of the 90,000 spectators jeering the Chelsea player. Before the match Capello had spoken of the need for greater backing from the home crowd and the England coach expressed his disappointment, saying: “Everyone can make a mistake.” Ferdinand, standing in for John Terry as England’s captain, agreed. “Generally the crowd was very positive but a few showed ignorance and immaturity by getting on Ashley’s back, though many fans were trying to gee him up as well.”

England wobbled, momentarily, after the Kazakh goal until Rooney restored order with a quick-fire brace of goals, his first at Wembley for a year. Jermain Defoe, a substitute, completed the scoring with a neat finish late on.

Capello appeared delighted with Rooney’s display but will expect his defence to improve against Belarus in Minsk on Wednesday regardless of whether Terry returns. However, his decision to reunite Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard in midfield was only a partial success.

Scotland’s qualification hopes are receding after a 0-0 home draw with Norway in which Wolverhampton’s Chris Iwelumo missed an open goal with his first touch in international football after coming on as a substitute. The result means Scotland may have to win all five remaining games to have a chance of reaching the 2010 finals. Wales won 2-0 at home against Liechtenstein.