Easy does it: Darren Bent (left) sidefoots the ball home to double England's advantage

As a lightning storm raged, England looked electric. They were dominating, performing in a manner that suggested they wanted to finish a slightly stuttering campaign in style.

A second goal soon arrived, this time for Bent, but again thanks to great vision from Rooney. It was a terrific pass that sent Young clear and a similarly impressive delivery across the face of the Montenegro goal that enabled Bent to score with ease.

The Aston Villa striker missed the one decent chance he had in their final qualifier against Croatia four years ago, but he made no mistake on this occasion.

Montenegro approached the second half with more vigour and determination. Joe Hart did well to deny Fatos Beqiraj and Jones was lucky to emerge unscathed from a legitimate penalty claim, while the loss of Young to injury caused Capello a further problem.

He responded first by sending on Stewart Downing and then replacing Bent with Frank Lampard and reverting to a more defensive 4-5-1 formation.

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