World Cup winners Germany eased past hosts Georgia 2-0 in their Euro 2016 qualifier yesterday with two goals in five minutes from Marco Reus and Thomas Mueller enough to get their Group D campaign back on track.

Reus scored after 39 minutes and Mueller soon doubled their lead as the Germans, who had an erratic start to qualifiers last year and lost in Poland, were never threatened by their weaker opponents.

The win lifted Germany to 10 points from five games, now one behind leaders Poland who were held to a one-all draw by Ireland.

Scotland are also on 10.

“A look at the table before the game was enough to see the urgency of the situation,” Germany coach Joachim Loew told reporters.

“We played a dynamic game, we then controlled it in the second half but did not have the same drive towards goal.”

Loew said their conversion rate would need to improve after again spurning several good chances and hitting the woodwork twice.

“We again missed some good chances. We had good combinations but failed to score a third or fourth goal.”

Georgia have had a tough start in Group D, recording four defeats and a win in Gibraltar to stay on three points.

It did not take long for Germany, with several World Cup winners back in the squad including captain Bastian Schweinsteiger, to threaten with Reus’s powerful drive palmed on to the crossbar by keeper Giorgi Loria after five minutes.

With coach Loew reverting to a four-man defence from a three-player experiment against Australia in a friendly on Wednesday, the Germans were in and around their opponents’ box for most of the first half.

Mueller fired at goal from a corner only to see the ball fly just wide and Mesut Ozil missed another big chance as the visitors had the hosts firmly on the backfoot.

Reus did better in the 39th when Mario Goetze charged into the box and was lucky to scramble the ball to the winger, who drilled home for his second goal this week, after also scoring in their 2-2 draw against Australia.

Mueller then fired in another on the stroke of half-time to firmly put them in the driving seat.

New Georgia coach Kakhaber Tskhadadze added a forward after the break but it was Reus who came close again, rattling the bar for a second time on the hour with another powerful shot.

In Dublin, Shane Long came off the bench to rescue Ireland’s qualification campaign with a priceless last-gasp equaliser against Poland.

The visitors looked to be heading for victory in Dublin courtesy of midfielder Slawomir Peszko’s first-half strike.

But Long, an 83rd-minute replacement for midfielder Glenn Whelan, stabbed home from close range in the first minute of stoppage time to snatch a point and keep Ireland’s hopes of making it to France alive.

‘Rock star’

Elsewhere, Gibraltar could at least savour the consolation of un-earthing a policeman-turned-footballing ‘Rock star’ as they reprised their new role as the whipping boys of the Euro 2016 qualifiers with a 6-1 hammering by Scotland in Glasgow.

A hat-trick from Steven Fletcher, the first by a Scottish international striker since Colin Stein in 1969, decorated the romp and ensured that UEFA’s new boys have now conceded 27 goals in their first five pointless competitive internationals.

Yet still nothing could deflect from the pure joy of the moment at Hampden Park when, after 379 minutes of trying, Lee Casciaro, an officer with the Royal Gibraltar Police force, scored the part-timers’ first ever goal in qualifying ties.

Scotland manager Gordon Strachan conceded in an interview with the BBC: “All the credit should go to Gibraltar. They made my life a misery for periods of that game and a long game for me as a coach.”

France win

In-form Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette scored his first international goal as France beat Denmark 2-0 in a friendly in St Etienne, last night.

The 24-year-old grabbed his 28th goal for club and country this season and Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud doubled France’s lead before half-time.

Denmark came into the game in the second half but could not find a way past Stephane Ruffier, the St Etienne keeper playing on home territory at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.

Group D

Georgia 0
Germany 2
Reus 39; Mueller 44;

Scotland 6
Maloney 18p, 34p; Fletcher 29, 77, 90; Naismith 39;
Gibraltar 1
Casciaro 20;

Ireland 1
Long 90;
Poland 1
Peszko 26;

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Poland	5	3	2	0	16	3	11
Germany	5	3	1	1	9	4	10
Scotland	5	3	1	1	11	5	10
Ireland	5	2	2	1	11	4	8
Georgia	5	1	0	4	4	9	3
Gibraltar	5	0	0	5	1	27	0

Group F

N. Ireland 2
Lafferty 33, 38;
Finland 1
Sadik 90;

Romania 1
Keseru 21;
Faroe Islands 0

Hungary 0
Greece 0

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Romania	5	4	1	0	7	1	13
N. Ireland	5	4	0	1	8	4	12
Hungary	5	2	2	1	4	3	8
Finland	5	1	1	3	5	7	4
F. Islands	5	1	0	4	2	7	3
Greece	5	0	2	3	1	5	2

Group I

Albania 2
Mavraj 77; Gashi 82;
Armenia 1
Movsisyan 4;

Red card: Hambardzum (ARM) 70.

Portugal 2
Carvalho 10; Coentrao 63;
Serbia 1
Matic 61;

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Portugal	4	3	0	1	4	2	9
Denmark	4	2	1	1	6	4	7
Albania	4	2	1	1	4	5	7
Serbia (-3)	4	1	1	2	6	6	1
Armenia	4	0	1	3	3	6	1

Friendly match

France 2
Lacazette 14; Giroud 38;
Denmark 0