England 5-3 Kosovo: Three Lions keep up 100% qualifying record at St Mary’s against spirited visitors

Five first-half goals from England’s increasingly productive attack saw them claim a 5-3 over Kosovo at St Mary’s on Tuesday evening.

However, they were given a scare by their opponents on the South Coast who showed that they have more than enough to worry plenty of teams in the future.

On an evening where good attacking play from both sides was complimented by poor defending, as Jadon Sancho brace and further strikes from Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane proved enough for England’s fourth straight qualifying victory.

Kosovo were backed by strong support inside the stadium and they had something to really celebrate after just one minute.

Very slack play from Michael Keane in defence saw him present the opposing attack with a clear shot on goal, and forward Valon Berisha made no mistake with a calm finish.

It didn’t take England too long to respond though and it was Raheem Sterling, who would go on to have a superb evening, who levelled the game.

Ben Chilwell’s corner was headed back across goal to the Manchester City man who had the simple task of turning home from the six-yard line.

On 19 minutes, the hosts claimed the lead through their very own goal machine in Harry Kane. He fired under visiting keeper Arijanet Muric after Sterling had provided the assist by turning his man and advancing menacingly towards goal.

Up until this point, Jadon Sancho had struggled to get involved but he put in the hard work that got England’s third goal of the night.

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He took on his marker down the line and fired a low cross across goal and the ball was inadvertently turned into his own net by defender Mergim Vojvoda.

As he started to link with Kane and Sterling in attack, Sancho didn’t have to wait long for his first two international goals as the Three Lions completed their scoring before half-time.

Twice he was brilliantly set up by clever play from Sterling; first finding the far left corner with a low drive and then tapping home simply from very close range.

Despite a brutal attacking display in the first period, England were unable to create nearly as much after the break, and were briefly stunned by a Kosovo fightback.

First Valon Berisha added his second of the evening with a perfect curling effort into the top corner, and then striker Vedat Muriqi got the goal that his performance deserved from the penalty spot after he was brought down by Harry Maguire.

Once the game had died down a little once again, Harry Kane got the chance to finish the game for good with a spot-kick of his own after Ross Barkley was taken down in the box.

However, the Spurs man – normally so reliable when given a free shot at goal – saw his penalty saved well by visiting keeper Muric.

England now sit comfortably on 12 points at the top of Euro 2020 qualifying Group A and have a game in hand on second-placed Czech Republic.

Kosovo still have a real chance to qualify though with eight points from their five games so far.