By David Lee Wheatley
England ran away with a 4-0 World Cup qualification victory over Moldova last night, but lost two-goal Danny Welbeck to a harsh yellow card which rules the Manchester United forward out of Tuesday's crunch clash in the Ukraine.
Captain Gerrard set England on their way at Wembley with a fine drive into the bottom left-hand corner of the net after 12 minutes and the lead was doubled from close range midway through the opening period by Southampton striker Rickie Lambert on his first international start.
Danny Welbeck strayed marginally offside moments before half-time and went through with the shot at goal after the whistle had gone. Welbeck claimed he didn't hear the official, but was booked nonetheless. It was a strange decision by the referee in the circumstances, as it seemed a pointless exercise to waste time with England cruising and obviously far superior to their opponents. The booking puts the live-wire United man out of Tuesday's trip to Kiev and creates a real selection headache for manager Roy Hodgson, especially if natural replacement Daniel Sturridge fails to return to fitness in time.
The disappointment didn't dampen Welbeck's enthusiasm for the task in hand, as a probing pass from Lambert found his strike partner to run on to and finish easily right on the stroke of half-time.
Gerrard's long-range passing was finding the target every time with Ngland constantly forcing the issue in an attacking sense, while another clever piece of skill from Lambert presented Welbeck with his second and number four of the night for the home side on 50 minutes. Lambert dissected the Moldova defence with an accurate assist and Welbeck dinked the ball over the helpless goalkeeper to end the contest with most of the second half still to go.
Moldova were giving the likes of Wilshere and Walcott some rough treatment throughout and offered absolutely nothing going forward. Ukraine will offer much more of a threat next week and England will sorely miss Danny Welbeck on the evidence of yesterday's performance.
Roy Hodgson will be particularly pleased with Gerrard, Lambert and Welbeck, but knows he must find a solution to the suspension of the Manchester-born star. If Sturridge doesn't make it, that leaves options very thin on the ground for the England boss going into an extremely vital fixture.
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