England ease past Poland

Goals from Carlton Cole, Jerome Thomas and Steven Taylor gave Peter Taylor's team a 3-0 lead inside 36 minutes. Playing at left-back, Whittingham looked lively moving forwards in the opening exchanges, but showed less proficiency in defence and allowed Marcin Kikut to skip past him before unleashing an unstoppable shot past Scott Carson before half-time.

But it was a rare moment of attacking verve from the visitors who never looked like sustaining a comeback. By the time James Milner was introduced midway through the second-half, Poland were down to ten men after Pawel Strak was sent off, before Taylor completed a comprehensive England victory late on. They will now progress to November's play-offs.