England’s Ryan Bertrand (right) and Jonathan Walters, of Ireland, eye the ball at the Aviva Stadium, in Dublin, yesterday.

Toothless England extended their unbeaten run to 10 games with a tame 0-0 friendly draw against Ireland yesterday but their fans were praised for respectful behaviour two decades after the last Dublin game between the teams ended in a riot.

The visitors failed to get a single shot on target in the first half and Ireland goalkeeper Keiren Westwood easily saved two Wayne Rooney efforts in the second.

“It’s way below what we were hoping to achieve,” England manager Roy Hodgson told reporters, pointing to Raheem Sterling in particular as failing to “hit the heights” he was capable of.

“We didn’t make nearly enough use of moments when we got into the final third... we have to do better than that,” said Hodgson, whose team is leading Group E by six points and plays Slovenia in Ljubljana on June 14.

A subdued Rooney remained on 47 goals for England, two behind Bobby Charlton’s record mark for the Three Lions.

Both managers praised the behaviour of fans, two decades ago the sides were led off the pitch in the old Lansdowne Road in 1995 after England supporters began throwing missiles, including seating ripped from the stands after their team fell behind.

Relations between England and Ireland have improved since a 1998 peace deal in Northern Ireland, but organisers took no chances, playing the game at 1pm local time on a Sunday with most pubs in the area not open before kick-off.

The tone was set by a standing ovation from both sets of fans for Jack Charlton, an English World Cup winner in 1966 and Ireland’s most successful manager. Some England fans applauded the Irish national anthem.

Ireland manager Martin O’Neill, whose side are fourth in European Championship qualifying Group D, said despite the lack of goals, the game was “exactly what we needed” to prepare for a game against third-place Scotland next Saturday.

Striker Daryl Murphy failed to convert Ireland’s best first-half opportunities, striking the ball narrowly past Joe Hart’s goal early in the game and heading wide.

Goalkeeper Hart was also forced to save a powerful strike from substitute Jon Walters in the second half and Aiden McGeady failed to control the rebound.

Russia warm-up win

Goals from debutants Alexander Golovin and Alexei Miranchuk helped Russia to a 4-2 victory over Belarus yesterday as Fabio Capello’s side warmed up for their Euro 2016 qualifier with a late blast of three goals.

Capello gave 19-year-old CSKA Moscow defender Nikita Chernov his debut in the starting side when three more players – Oleg Ivanov of Terek, Golovin from CSKA Moscow and Miranchuk of Lokomotiv Moscow – got their first taste of international action in the second half.

The hosts took an early lead through Alexander Kokorin, however a quick-fire double from Sergei Kislyak put Belarus 2-1 up.

Russia came back strongly in the last 15 minutes, scoring three times. Golovin levelled with a fine effort from the edge of the penalty area, Miranchuk made it 3-2 and Alexander Kerzhakov extended his record as the country’s all-time leading scorer by hitting home his 30th goal.

Both countries play important Euro 2016 qualifiers on Sunday.

Russia take on Austria in Mos-cow, with Belarus in action against Spain in Borisov.

Friendlies results
Ireland vs England - 0-0
Russia vs Belarus - 4-2
Serbia vs Azerbaijan - 4-1
Croatia vs Gibraltar - 4-0
France vs Belgium - 3-4
Brazil vs Mexico - late kick-off