England cruise past Estonia

England beat Estonia 3-0 in a one-sided Euro 2008 Group E qualifier at Wembley Stadium on Saturday to take another step towards next year's finals in Austria and Switzerland.

It was England's fifth successive 3-0 victory in the group and they moved level with leaders Croatia on 23 points, with the Croatians playing Israel later.

England dominated the match after going ahead in the 11th minute when Shaun Wright-Phillips fired an angled shot through goalkeeper Mart Poom's legs.

Wayne Rooney scored his first competitive goal for England since Euro 2004 when he made it 2-0 after 32 minutes and a minute later England were 3-0 up when Taavi Rahn scored an own goal with a powerful long-range header that bounced off the foot of a post and into his own net.

The only concern for England on an otherwise satisfying afternoon was an injury to left back Ashley Cole, who was carried off on a stretcher with a heavily bandaged left leg early in the second half.

SCOTLAND BEAT UKRAINE

Scotland took a big step towards the Euro 2008 finals with a 3-1 win over Ukraine in qualifying Group B on Saturday.

Scotland scored through Kenny Miller and Lee McCulloch inside the opening 10 minutes.

Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko lashed a close range shot into the roof of the net in the 25th minute to set up a fraught finish to the first half.

Everton's James McFadden secured the points with a third goal on 68 minutes to keep Scotland top of the group with 24 points from 10 games.

SLOVAKIA ROUT SAN MARINO

Stanislav Sestak scored twice as Slovakia thrashed San Marino 7-0 in their Euro 2008 Group D qualifying match on Saturday.

The home side easily controlled the match from the kick-off, with Napoli midfielder Marek Hamsik opening the scoring from close range in the 25th minute.

Sestak scored his first in the 32nd minute before Marek Sapara's blast past San Marino keeper Federico Valentini in the 37th minute from Jan Kozak's perfectly timed pass made it 3-0.

Marek Skrtel was unmarked in the box in the 51st to make it 4-0 and Filip Holosko also fired home three minutes later.

Sestak added his second after 57 minutes, and Jan Durica converted a penalty in the 76th minute to complete the rout.

Neither side can qualify for next year's finals.