Wayne Rooney celebrated his 100th England cap by scoring a penalty to lead his team to a 3-1 win over Slovenia in a Euro 2016 Group E qualifier at Wembley yesterday which only came to life after half- time.

The England skipper scored with a thunderous spot-kick after 59 minutes having been fouled by Slovenia captain Bostjan Cesar to move level with Jimmy Greaves as his country’s joint-third highest scorer on 44 goals.

He is now just five goals behind Bobby Charlton’s all-time record of 49 England goals.

Rooney’s equaliser came two minutes after Slovenia took the lead when Milivoje Novakovic whipped in a free-kick and Jordan Henderson sent a header flying past Joe Hart for an own goal.

England secured victory with two goals from Danny Welbeck who struck after 65 minutes with a scrappy left-foot shot before making it 3-1 seven minutes later after fine build-up play culminated in a superb one-two with Raheem Sterling.

“It was a good day in the end,” Rooney told ITV.

“We had to show character and that will be good for us in the team. Since the World Cup we haven’t faced that.”

The victory maintained England’s perfect start to the campaign and head the standings with 12 points.

Andriy Yarmolenko notched a hat-trick as Ukraine recorded their third straight victory in Group C with a 3-0 triumph at Luxembourg.

Yarmolenko put the visitors ahead with a rising finish in the 33rd minute and added two quickfire curling efforts after the break in the 53rd and 56th minutes.

The win saw Ukraine move on to nine points from four games.

Austria stayed on course to qualify for Euro 2016 when substitute Rubin Okotie gave them a 1-0 win over Russia in Group G.

Okotie finished off a counter-attack in the 73rd minute to give Austria the breakthrough after they had struggled to create openings against Russia.

Austria have 10 points from four games while Russia have five after falling to their first defeat.

San Marino end losing streak

San Marino ended a run of 61 consecutive defeats in all competitions when they held Estonia to a goalless draw yesterday.

It was also the part-timers’ first point in the European Championship qualifyiers since they began taking part in 1990.

Goalkeeper Aldo Simoncini was the hero as he kept Estonia at bay and helped San Marino keep a clean sheet for only the third time.

Group C

Luxembourg 0
Ukraine 3
Yarmolenko 33, 53 Yarmolenko 56;

Macedonia 0
Slovakia 2
Kucka 25; Nemec 38;

Spain 3
Isco 18; Busquets 19; Pedro 55;
Belarus 0

  P W D L F A Pts
Slovakia 4 4 0 0 8 2 12
Spain 4 3 0 1 13 3 9
Ukraine 4 3 0 1 6 1 9
Macedonia 4 1 0 3 4 10 3
Belarus 4 0 1 3 2 9 1
Luxembourg 4 0 1 3 3 11 1

Group E

England 3
Rooney 59 pen; Welbeck 65, 72;
Slovenia 1
Henderson 57 og;

San Marino 0
Estonia 0

Switzerland 4
Arlauskis 66og; Schaer 68; Shaqiri 80, 90;
Lithuania 0

  P W D L F A Pts
England 4 4 0 0 11 1 12
Slovenia 4 2 0 2 4 4 6
Switzerland 4 2 0 2 8 3 6
Lithuania 4 2 0 2 3 6 6
Estonia 4 1 1 2 1 2 4
San Marino 4 0 1 3 0 11 1

Group G

Austria 1
Okotie 73;
Russia 0

Moldova 0
Liechtenstein 1
Burgmeier 74;

Montenegro 1
Jovetic 80 pen.;
Sweden 1
Ibrahimovic 9;

  P W D L F A Pts
Austria 4 3 1 0 5 2 10
Sweden 4 1 3 0 5 3 6
Russia 4 1 2 1 6 3 5
Montenegro 4 1 2 1 3 2 5
Liechtenstein 4 1 1 2 1 6 4
Moldova 4 0 1 3 2 6 1

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