Rooney and Gerrard make sure England claim ticket to Brazil

Nor was there a heart-stopping, nerve-jangling finale to endure, as had been the case 16 years earlier when Glenn Hoddle’s Three Lions emerged from Rome’s footballing Colosseum with both a precious point and a guaranteed place at France ’98.

Instead, Wayne Rooney’s 38th international goal and a late strike by captain Steven Gerrard ensured England got the victory they required to top Group H and seal a safe passage to next year’s finals.

That qualification came courtesy of a stellar attacking performance only added to the celebrations at the final whistle as manager Roy Hodgson and his players basked in the knowledge that it is group runners-up Ukraine who now have to negotiate a potentially tricky play-off to reach Brazil.

As with Friday night’s hammering of Montenegro, Andros Townsend was in scintillating form.

So, too, was Leighton Baines on the opposite flank, while the growing understanding between the attacking trio of Rooney, Danny Welbeck and Daniel Sturridge offers hope that England may, despite some of their stumbles along the qualifying route, be able to make an impact at the 2014 World Cup after all.

To do so, however, there will have to be big improvements at the back.

Gary Cahill and Phil Jagielka may have been making their sixth consecutive appearance together but they appear some way off forming a reliable partnership, a point Robert Lewandowski underlined several times last night without being able to apply the finishing touch.

Had the Borussia Dortmund striker done so, then the night may have turned out very different with the 20,000-plus strong Polish army of supporters getting the result their tremendous support had deserved.

It was not to be as an enterprising display from England brought a seventh straight win on home soil over the former Soviet Block country. What the massed bank of red and white down one side of Wembley did do, though, was help bring something of an old school feel to the final night of qualifying in Group H.

Not only did both sets of supporters jeer each other’s national anthem, a practice that was practically compulsory in the Eighties and Nineties, but the visitors also smuggled in upwards of 30 flares, most of which were let off during the final few seconds before kick-off.

Once proceedings were under way, the 18,000 away fans with official tickets made themselves heard with an incessant din that veered between jeering when England had the ball and throaty appreciation when their own side had possession.

The home fans, in contrast, were subdued with the only noise coming from the band and those awful paper ‘clapper’ contraptions that are about as intimidating as a night in the Cotswolds at a five-star country club.

Thankfully, England’s on-field armoury had a much more formidable look with Townsend bringing the first save of the night from Wojciech Szczesny on 10 minutes with a low drive from the edge of the area.

Welbeck was then an inch or so from converting the rebound before Chris Smalling went similarly close to applying the final touch as an inviting free-kick from Gerrard fizzed across the six-yard area.

In the 25th minute, Townsend went even closer with a ferocious drive that struck the crossbar with true venom before Szczesny brilliantly blocked Daniel Sturridge’s follow-up.

Welbeck was the next to throw his arms up in frustration when the Manchester United striker somehow fired wide from five yards out after Poland had failed to clear a corner.

A goal seemed certain and, sure enough, four minutes before the break it duly arrived courtesy of a sublime cross from Baines that Rooney expertly guided into the corner of the net.

For the first time all night, the massed bank of visitors and the 2,000 or so Polish interlopers in supposedly home areas of Wembley fell quiet as the realisation sunk in that a pivotal moment had just arrived. Considering England’s dominance, their half-time lead was deserved. The Poles, however, were still able to rue an uncharacteristic miss midway through the first half by Lewandowski, left with just Joe Hart to beat after a swift counter-attack had opened up the home defence.

Just 21 seconds after the restart, the visitors again went close when a slick move saw the excellent Jakub Blaszczykowski find substitute Mateusz Klich, whose goalbound shot was blocked defiantly by Cahill.

There was another let-off for the hosts on the hour when Hart had to save from Lewandwoski but, in truth, it always seemed like being England’s night thanks to the sheer volume of chances created.

As the pressure mounted on Szczesny’s goal, he saved impressively from Cahill, Sturridge and Rooney, while both Grzegorz Krychowiak and Artur Jedrzejczyk were fortunate to see attempted defensive blocks deep inside their own area flash just wide of the target.

England, though, would not be denied a second goal and it came two minutes from time when Gerrard showed great tenacity to burst through two industrial challenges to lift the ball over the on-rushing Szczesny.

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England: Hart; Smalling, Cahill, Jagielka, Baines; Gerrard, Carrick (Lampard 71); Townsend (Milner 87), Rooney, Welbeck; Sturridge (Wilshere 82). Unused substitutes: Jones, Ruddy, Gibbs, Barkley, Defoe, Sterling, Lambert, Forster.

Poland: Szczesny; Celeban, Jedrzejczyk, Glik, Wojtkowiak; Krychowiak, M Lewandowski (Klich 46); Blaszczykowski, Mierzejewski (Zielinski 76), Sobota (Peszko 65); R Lewandowski. Unused substitutes: Boruc, Fabianski, Wasilewski, Polanski, Jodlowiec, Rzezniczak, Sobiech, Wawrzyniak.

Referee: D Skomina (Slovenia).

The road to Rio: Page 22.