Video: Brawling supporters mar achievement of England qualifying with perfect record

Goals from Ross Barkley and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, as well as an own goal from Lithuania’s Giedrius Arlauskis, meant Roy Hodgson’s men ended their pristine Euro 2016 qualification campaign with a comfortable win.

A year on from their wretched World Cup campaign, England will head to France next summer having won all 10 of their qualifiers.

It is the first time England have qualified for a major tournament in this format with a 100 per cent record – and for that Hodgson deserves great praise.

England’s group may have been the easiest in qualifying, but the achievement should not be sniffed at, and once again the likes of Barkley, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Adam Lallana showed glimpses of class against a weak yet stubbornly-well organised Lithuania side.

England’s performances and form will not worry Hodgson, but his bosses at the Football Association will be concerned at the disturbances in Vilnius last night.

The Lithuanians had not sold out the 5,500-seater stadium so tickets went on sale earlier this week and the England fans who travelled to the Baltic nation clearly snapped them up. That meant Lithuanians and English supporters mixed in the same stand and that spelled trouble.

The skirmishes started before kick-off when the England fans who had bought tickets in the home end clashed with their Lithuania counterparts. The supporters brawled and missiles were thrown before riot police stepped in to break up the fighting and separate the fans.

The Lithuanian supporters booed God Save The Queen, before the England fans started singing anti-IRA songs.

An uneasy truce ensued between the two groups as the match began.

Harry Kane was eager to make the most of a surprise start. The Tottenham striker drew three impressive saves from Arlauskis within the first 22 minutes, and he then played an important part in England’s opening goal.

After some impressive play down the right, Kane rolled the ball to Barkley, who got the ball out from under his feet before cracking a shot into the goal off an upright. Replays showed the shot took a slight deflection off Tomas Mikuckis, but it was still a stunning strike from Barkley.

The Everton midfielder continued to impress, driving at the hosts’ defence while Lallana probed the back line with a series of nifty passes, one of which helped put England 2-0 up.

Lallana flicked the ball into Kane’s path after receiving the ball from the Spurs forward and he unleashed a low drive which hit a post and struck the goalkeeper’s back before the ball rolled into the net.

Kane wasted two good chances to add a goal of his own after the break. Arlauskis palmed a close-range effort from Kane straight back at the Spurs man, but his shot was blocked by Linas Klimavicius. Arlauskis produced a top save to deny Barkley from the resulting corner.

The Lithuania goalkeeper could do nothing to stop Oxlade-Chamberlain’s fine strike just after the hour, however.

The Arsenal winger beat the offside trip and latched on to Kyle Walker’s incisive pass before belting the ball into the top corner to seal the win which sent England to France on the back of a 10-match winning streak.

Hodgson said: “I’m very proud of the players’ performance,” he said. “It was excellent the way they went about their business.

“The quality of our play was good and to get 10 wins out of 10 is never easy so we’ve got to take pride in it.”

Lithuania: Arlauskis, Freidgeimas, Mikuckis, Klimavicius, Andriuskevicius (Vaitkunas 82), Novikovas (Petravicius 63), Panka, Zulpa, Cernych, Slivka, Spalvis (Matulevicius 85). Unused substitutes: Zubas, Slavickas, Cesnauskis, Pilibaitis, Kuklys, Veliulis, Baravykas, Cerniauskas.

England: Butland, Walker, Jones, Jagielka, Gibbs, Barkley (Townsend 73), Shelvey, Lallana (Alli 67), Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kane (Ings 59), Vardy. Unused substitutes: Heaton, Smalling, Walcott, Clyne, Bertrand, Sterling.

Referee: Kenn Hansen (Denmark).