Hat-trick for Harry Kane as England rout Bulgaria at Wembley

With the result England leapfrog Kosovo before their match on Tuesday night on Wembley and go two points clear at the top of the group.

The Bulgarian side set themselves up with five at the back and England struggled to break down their obdurate and organised opponents.

They had to wait for a defensive mistake to break through, and Raheem Sterling was on hand to steal a poor pass from Plamen Iliev to tee up Harry Kane for an easy goal.

In the second half, the game was settled by two goals within the first 10 minutes, as Kane doubled his tally with a penalty before setting up Sterling.

With the result rarely in doubt, Gareth Southgate gave minutes to youngsters Mason Mount and Jadon Sancho, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain won his first cap in 18 months.

Kane completed his hat-trick after being brought down in the box with just under 20 minutes remaining

The quality of sides in the group are so far below England’s that there is room to experiment for the rest of the games. Mason Mount got minutes, but this is still a side that succeeds with set pieces. Against better sides, England will need different approaches, and this is a rare chance to get plenty of that before Euro 2020.

Kane’s hat-trick showed us nothing that we don’t already know. He can be relied upon to do the easy things ruthlessly, and he is adept in the build-up too. England can't afford to lose him for the summer’s tournament and he could be protected by giving other players a chance up front against Kosovo.

England: Pickford 7. Trippier 7. Keane 6, Maguire 7, Rose 7. Henderson 6, Rice 6, Barkley 6; Sterling 8, Rashford 7, Kane 8. Subs: Mount 6, Sancho 6, Oxlade-Chamberlain 6.

Bulgaria: Iliev 5, S.Popov 5, Bodurov 5, Bozhikov 5, Nedyalkov 5. Sarmov 6, Ivanov 5, I.Popov 6, Malinov 5, Wanderson 6, Marcelinho 6. Subs: Dimitrov 5, Despodov 5, Mladenov 6

24’ - GOAL! England 1-0 Bulgaria. Kane scores - Iliev passes short, gets it back, plays it left, and oh! There's Raheem Sterling. He takes the ball, dinks it inside to Kane, and he prods home.

48’ - PENALTY! Rashford sprints down the left, a Cruyff turn into the box, and Bodurov cleans him out with a witless late tackle.

49’ - GOAL! England 2-0 Bulgaria. Kane scores - No problem as Kane clips a penalty into the top corner.

55’ - GOAL! England 3-0 Bulgaria. Sterling scores - Kane strides down the left wing, sends in a dangerous, low cross, and Sterling darts in ahead of the defence to prod it home.

72’ - PENALTY! Dimitrov is turned by Kane, sent to the ground, and he recovers in order to bring him down.

73’ - GOAL! England 4-0 Bulgaria - Kane aims at the top left corner and the 'keeper has no chance to reach it.

Harry Kane has 25 goals in 40 appearances for England.