Rashford does the trick as England beat Slovakia in World Cup qualifier.

Rashford does the trick as England beat Slovakia in World Cup qualifier.

Any more of this and England's musical football fans will have to sit down in a dark corner, take a deep breath and just count to ten. Of course England beat Slovakia 2-1 in their latest test of World Cup qualifying endurance. But sooner or later somebody will need to issue a government health warning and spell out some home truths. How many more games does it take to remind most English football supporters that watching England is rather like a painful operation. You bite your nails for 90 minutes, look away at those crucial minutes and hope that the anaesthetic works. Sometimes you have to believe that it'll all come right on the night. And yet.

For those who take things too seriously it wouldn't have mattered had England lost to Slovakia at Wembley. It would have been nice to think though that at some point England can just cruise through these qualifying stages of a major international tournament with some degree of effortless ease. At times last night it almost felt as if Slovakia were the home side in an opening half an hour when the visitors looked like world champions and poor England hadn't a clue what day it was let alone what the occasion was about.

It does seem that England have become very blase about these games so much so that it's difficult to know whether they should either approach a match without a care in the world or just press down on the accelerator. For the best part of an hour England reminded you of 11 soldiers in the middle of the desert desperately searching for water. It is hard to know what you're going to get but it's safe to assume that you'll eventually be led down some baffling side turning or cul-de-sac where even the most straightforward task looks far more complicated than it should be.

During those opening stages of the first half your mind took you quite disturbingly back to that night in October 1973 when the whole world expected England to trample all over Poland at Wembley in that gruesome last World Cup qualifier. Nobody quite expected the match that the fans were anticipating. Poland would be punch bags, battering rams, soft targets, ready to be punished, pummelled and battered by an England side including the likes of Mick Channon, Martin Chivers, Tony Currie, Norman Hunter, whose mistake cost England the game and Bobby Moore who seven years earlier had lifted the World Cup for England at Wembley. But it happened.

Anyway the fact is that against Slovakia last night England did their very convincing impersonation of an international team who looked for all the world like a side who had assumed that all they had to do was to turn up last night and just coast to emphatic victory. What happened was not so much a shock to the system more a bolt out of the blue. This was not the match that Gareth Southgate's men had prepared for nor was it one they could have foreseen.

From the very first whistle Slovakia tied England in knots with some of the most breathtaking passing ever seen by a visiting side at Wembley in any tournament. It was hardly Hungary 1953 when the Magical Magyars just played pass the parcel with Billy Wright's England. This was a Slovakia side stamping their authority on the match and unashamedly running rings around England, teasing, taunting, demoralising the home side with a giddy, dizzy fairground carousel of short, sweet passes in an out of England's gasping defence.

Somehow Slovakia began to carve England open with impeccably weighted ground based passing that must have taken the home side by complete surprise. Soon the passes would become more lethal and dangerous with every minute that ticked past. The ball would be moved almost impulsively between whole clusters of blue Slovakian shirts. It wasn't quite a masterclass but it certainly felt like one.

After four minutes, with the match barely out of second gear, Slovakia underlined their unexpected superiority with the opening goal. In a matter of seconds the ball was swiftly transferred through a blur of Slovakian feet before a chipped pass into England's six yard box found Lobotka who beautifully dinked the ball over the helpless England keeper Joe Hart.

Now it was that the whole England side would remind you of a group of fifth formers about to undergo a severe examination. You know the scenario. You're taken into the school hall, told to sit in your seat and then you're given the test papers without a word said. That's how it must have felt for England. This was very serious, vitally important and absolutely essential if you wanted to get on in life. Now boys turn over your paper and you can start when they tell you to.

England though had lost their concentration perhaps distracted by some external noise or maybe the realisation that they had a match on their hands. Slovakia were dancing around England with an almost arrogant indifference that somehow defied belief and explanation. Slowly but surely Slovakia lost their tempo and impetus and England began to claw their way back into the game like stranded men at sea who finally spot a life boat nearby.

With minutes to go Eric Dier, Tottenham's responsible and domineering centre half  popped up from defence for an England corner. Marcus Rashford, surely a star for the future, drilled the corner to the near post and Dier, with the most casual flick of his feet, guided the ball magically past a wrong footed Slovakian keeper. It was the equaliser England were hoping for but not the manner or timing of the goal. The psychological balance had now swung very favourably back to England and just at the right time.

It was half time and time to observe some of Wembley Stadium's more commercially pleasing diversions. Running along the whole perimeter of the stadium, Vauxhall Motors were flashing up their latest and sleekest cars. Here was a flattering homage to the thriving car industry and however hard you tried you couldn't help but notice it. Then Mercurial football boots appeared and disappeared rather like those Piccadilly Circus neon signs that are currently undergoing a major re-fit.

Then finally Wembley Stadium invited you to a complete stadium tour with electronic exhortations asking you very politely whether you'd like to spend a couple of hours in the inner sanctum of Wembley. Here you are taken along presumably, along its impressively built corridors, trophy cabinets, old and new photos of old and new teams, the players while always remembering as  first class refreshments. Not forgetting of course the stadium of course, the hundred or steps leading up to the Royal Box and of course the players dressing rooms.

Meanwhile back in the second half and the natives were still slightly restless. The 68,000 crowd at Wembley had to be at their most patient and tolerant. This was never going to be easy and there was an un uncomfortable  suspicion that maybe England were going to blow it on this night of nights. Not this time they weren't. Poland, 1973 and that ill fated Wembley debacle when Steve Mclaren's England faltered against Croatia, were now historical blips, mere clumsy aberrations, banana skins  where everything slipped and slithered out of control never to be retrieved again.

It was now that a young Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford clearly announced himself on the world footballing stage. Rashford is more or less the successor to Wayne Rooney for England and although Rashford may be at the spring chicken stage in his blossoming career, last night at Wembley he gave a faultless demonstration in the arts and crafts of centre forward play.

Many an English centre forward has had to endure the scrutiny of the public eye. From Steve Bloomer, Len Shackleton and Tom Finney, through to Tommy Lawton, Bob Latchford, Trevor Francis, Kevin Keegan and latterly Rooney the England football team have always yearned for that Sir Geoff Hurst moment when the world seemed to stand still and something historic was in the air.

Here though was Marcus Rashford though, 19, tall, fast, lightning quick over the pitch, running with the ball in much the way that Rooney did and shrugging defenders aside with a total disregard of their presence. Rashford is undoubtedly a player with an exceptional football brain, thinking, planning, hunting, foraging and then sprinting past his last man like an express train. He may be at the very beginning of his career but Rashford seems to have all the natural attributes of the striker's trade. Importantly the questions will increase, the pressure may mount and the expectations will grow rapidly. If England do make the World Cup in Russia next year- which now seems highly likely- then Rashford may find himself surrounded by a microscope.

For now though Rashford it was who stole the headlines for England. From another a quickfire exchange of passes on the half way line between captain Jordan Henderson and the ever influential Dele Alli, Rashford burst on to the final, searching ball before blasting a low shot past the flummoxed Slovakian keeper.  Time to break open the bubbly bottles of champagne.

When England finally decided to make their presence felt you became aware that the players who had been summoned  at Wembley finally felt good about themselves. The aforementioned Dele Alli is gradually coming to terms with an extravagant talent, sneaking off on slippery runs that the Slovakians could never deal with, Henderson the skipper continues to grow in stature and style, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain although nippy and genuinely explosive on and off the ball, does lose the ball in critical areas. Harry Kane up front has the air of a man who wants to score a hat-trick which may be wishful thinking but could only be commended.

So here you are then. England are on the verge of qualifying for another World Cup Finals in Russia next year. We know they can do it because they've done it before. Admittedly this whole ritualistic event is almost amusingly inevitable. You could call England qualification past masters but sadly the obstacles, concerns and anxieties begin to appear as soon as they qualify. Proper tournament football seems to confound England completely.

 There's the sudden stage fright on the big night, the incoherent fluffed lines, the dreadful dress rehearsals and the ultimate failure in the spotlight. Oh to be an England supporter. Still, and for some inexplicable reason, France were held to a goal-less draw with Luxembourg. Mind you for France and Luxembourg read England's defeat to Iceland in Euro 2016. Football seems to have its own ready made script. You could hardly make it up.