World Cup qualifier -Kane becomes the perfect citizen as England eventually overwhelm Malta

 World Cup qualifier -Kane becomes the perfect citizen as England eventually overwhelm Malta.

Oh well here we go again. Just when you thought it was safe to watch the England football team something happens to spoil it all. This is not so much a case of familiarity breeding contempt more a case of returning to the scene of the crime. How often English footballing supporters have seen this before? Maybe an insurance policy should be issued to all English football fans in case they get so nervous and fed up that it hardly seems their worthwhile anymore.

Of course England beat Malta 4-0 in their first autumn World Cup qualifier of the new football season but what heavy weather they seemed to make of it all. This was rather like watching 11 factory workers toiling away at the peak of the Industrial Revolution. England, in a later age, reminded you of those conscientious machinists wiping away the sweat from their grimy foreheads, a team of hard working and industrious men slogging and slugging away for a mere pittance and penny.  England chipped and hammered away at a Malta defence that seemed to throw a vast defensive blanket over them, hoping against hope that Gareth Southgate's England would simply go away and never come back to Malta again.

For almost the whole of England's latest European struggle, it felt as if England were using the wrong tools and should have used sharper instruments. England were, it has to be said, laboured and laborious, totally in control of the game but completely lacking in the kind of finishing power that a Germany or Spain may well have possessed and taken full advantage. England were hearteningly inventive and for well over an hour camped themselves comfortably in the Malta half. Now it was that the pneumatic drill and wrecking ball England were looking for had gone missing. This was not so much a demolition more of a gentle dismantling of a stubborn wall.

We are now approaching the business end of the World Cup qualifiers and the English football team are still looking for a smart white shirt, stiff collar, appropriately silk tie, decently well pressed trousers and respectable black shoes. Perhaps England should never be subjected to this torturous ordeal where everything seems so much effort. Maybe World Cup or European Championship qualifiers should be outlawed or banned because quite clearly this is not England's strongest point, its footballing forte.

Still England are in the driving seat at the top of their World Cup qualifying group with Scotland not that far behind them and still destined to be at the top table of World Cup football. The whole concept of a World Cup Finals in Russia still sends one or two shivers down the spine and even now the prospect of a World Cup in Moscow still seems distinctly underwhelming. But as long as the England football team are bombarded with hospitable glasses of vodka then things may turn out for the best.

Of course the Russians may, quite unfairly, be perceived as too stern and forbidding for some but for England the steppes to glory next summer may yet be paved with gold. For the time being England still look very much the work in progress that they may have been for some time now. For the small knot of English supporters tucked away quietly in the far corner of the Ta'Qali National Stadium in downtown Valetta, this was football of the lathe, anvil and the blacksmith. There was something to be said here for patience being a virtue.

At times England looked like a tug of war team desperately trying to pull their opponents into submission. It was far from being pretty, over elaborate at times, annoyingly unproductive and horribly repetitive. To the impartial observer it was like having teeth pulled, a dull and plodding contest that seemed to be going nowhere in particular. There was a pre- season friendly feel about this World Cup qualifier, an exhibition match that had a charitable air about it. Occasionally our eyes were heavy with sleepy tedium.

Under the circumstances this may have been understandable given the late summer heat in Malta and an evening that was still humid. This doesn't excuse the fact that for long periods of this match it looked as though England had forgotten to turn up for this game. In fact somebody should have prodded England in the back and reminded them that they had an important match to play. Such absent mindedness will never be forgiven next year in Russia so this was a salutary warning to England.

But there were impressive individual displays that England boss Gareth Southgate may have taken great heart from. England skipper Jordan Henderson is developing into one of the most consistent captains England have produced for quite some time. Henderson is calming, stabilising, a natural leader of men with a wide range of accurate passing, clever positional sense and enormous footballing intelligence. There is something of the cultured playmaker about Henderson, not as cautious as Ray Wilkins but equally as classy as both Wilkins and forward thinking as Bryan Robson.

When Bobby Moore lifted the World Cup in 1966 as England's captain he did so with little in the way of pace but a studious outlook on the game that Henderson looks as if he may well have inherited. This is not to suggest that Henderson will pick the pockets of a Brazilian forward in Russia but Henderson is cool, visionary, unflustered in a crisis and can capably rescue his team in a dire predicament.

He held England's midfield together with poise and spatial awareness, prompting his colleagues with neat, short passes and then sensibly completing his tasks with a willing heart and a positive intent. But with Jake Livermore, Raheem Sterling on the flank, Dele Alli always choosing the easy option it always looked as if England were somehow repressed, inhibited or simply searching for a whole series of picture postcard goals rather than the more direct approach of their opponents. It was hard to tell, given the nature of the match,whether England should have stuck or twisted. To all outward appearances England treated Malta with kid gloves rather than the iron fist.

Then there was Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, Liverpool's new signing from Arsenal, a good old fashioned winger who does look the genuine article. It became clear that Chamberlain was determined to get away from Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and his new home at Anfield may just be what the doctor may have ordered for a team that once had the brilliantly dashing, darting and penetrative Steve Heighway, Peter Thompson and much further back in time Billy Liddell.

At international level though Chamberlain could lay a permanent claim to be one of England's next generation of wingers. He shows a pleasing turn of pace, cutting quickly inside his defender deviously and scheming away in collaboration with Raheem Sterling on the other flank. Sterling, for his part, still has the show pony about him and rather than surging into the opposition's penalty area and crossing purposefully for Harry Kane to finish, still dwells on the ball for too long and indecisively. Maybe Sterling should attend a finishing school.

Sterling has been criticised, at times unfairly, for wasting possession quite wantonly when in the best of attacking positions. But the Manchester City flankman does have time on his side although England must be hoping that sooner rather than later he can iron out his roaming and wandering tendencies. Against Malta, Sterling looked unstoppable at times and a force of nature. Then you throw your hands in horror when he runs out of space, collides head on with a towering defender and then loses the ball in highly promising positions. Sometimes you can put too much icing on the cake. For Sterling everything has to be done in moderation and the learning curve will be hopefully an upward one.

In the heart of England's defence Gary Cahill, Phil Jones, Ryan Bertrand and the multi million pound Kyle Walker were never even remotely disturbed by a Malta attack that rarely, if at all, ventured into English territory. Cahill oozes solidity and security, Jones is likewise streetwise, a model of reliability and impossible to move out of his comfort zone. Bernard, one of England's goal scorers on the night looked as sturdy as Mick Mills during the 1970s and assured as Phi Neal, the Liverpool full back who just seemed immovable at times.

Finally there was Joe Hart, on loan to West Ham this season and already beaten seven times in three games for the Hammers. Goalkeeping, as Hart's predecessors Peter Shilton, Ray Clemence and Ron Springett before him, will undoubtedly tell us, is the most unenviable job in football, the sitting target when things go terribly wrong. Clemence was an immediate contemporary of Shilton and both had varying degrees of fortune and misfortune.

 Clemence for his part, was always dependable and never really caught out whereas Shilton will always be haunted by Poland in that vital 1973 World Cup qualifier when a shot squirmed under his body for the winning goal. England were knocked out of the qualifiers, failing shamefully and unceremoniously at the final hurdle and West Germany in 1974 became no more than a pipedream. . Still Brian Clough did think he knew a thing or two about Polish goalkeepers.

Hart, for his part, appeared sadly embarrassed when on the receiving end of free kicks he couldn't quite hold onto when necessary. Euro 2016 of course was a complete catastrophe for England and when Iceland is mentioned in England they are not referring to a supermarket for frozen foods.

Anyway Joe Hart was never called upon to do anything stress inducing against Malta and the fallibility he showed in France last year may never be exposed again. In fact for much of last night's game Hart could quite easily have read a book, laughed at a movie, completed the Times crossword puzzle and still had time to run around the stadium. In fact Hart was so unemployed that even Hart's towel looked bored and distracted.

Eventually England broke down the Maltese resistance. Shortly after half time England began to flood forward into attack in great cascades and torrents. With the most quickfire and rapid of attacking movements, Delli Ali, Spurs adventurous midfield player, burst forward and, with the most delicious of one twos with his Spurs team mate Harry Kane, England were in front. Kane side footed home his goal with all the clinical touch of a natural striker. Kane is neither a cobra or a boa constrictor but he does know how to score goals. Not so much as a snake more a hungry lion ready to pounce.

Minutes later England extended their lead when Ryan Bertrand picked up the ball just outside the penalty area before firing a low shot that bounced spitefully in front of the Maltese keeper before bulging the net like a smouldering firework nestling in the corner. Now the game for Malta was well and truly up. In fact your heart went out to them and compassion seemed entirely fitting. They looked for all the world, like a team of international under achievers who may have been around for a long time but never really asserted themselves at any level of the game.

After another goal from the lively and lithe Harry Kane, Arsenal's Danny Welbeck latched onto a through ball superbly, hooking the ball over an advancing keeper who could only gasp at thin air. In a matter of minutes a game that could have been ultimately goal-less and humiliating for England found its right and proper place in the World Cup history books. It was business as usual and England left Malta in the happiest frame of mind. So there.

Sometimes you know never whether to laugh or cry at the England football team. Over the years the emotional roller coaster has been so turbulent that many of us have frequently been tempted to spend 90 minutes cowering behind the sofa or pretending that none of us had anything to do with its final product. Still Gareth Southgate and his men have almost pencilled their names into the World Cup jamboree in Russia next year. We can only hope that there are no jewellery shop assistants ready to pounce or an alert member of the KGB on the lookout for Jordan Henderson's passport. There can be no place for shifty skulduggery in deepest Russia. We trust in the Soviet Union.

Gareth Southgate, the England boss, continues to look like one of those fresh faced and angelic choir boys, more at home in a church than a World Cup qualifying football match. Thin and lean with a hint of stubble on his chin, his blue shirt was immaculately ironed and there was something of the polite security guard about Southgate. Most of the match saw him with arms folded, a man in a  reflective pose, chewing briefly at gum and then considering other options.

 He is not Sir Alf Ramsey because Ramsey must have felt misunderstood but there is something of the Ron Greenwood about him as he thinks and thinks again. Certainly he is not Don Revie because we all know what Revie did to England and Kevin Keegan for all of his playing gifts just seemed to be passing through. Southgate is very much his own man which Glen Hoddle may have felt he could identify with until all of the spiritualist got involved in Hoddle's life.

So it was that England left the idyllically pretty country of Malta, a quiet and peaceful Mediterranean country that never features on any news agenda and at times seems as neutral and inoffensive as Switzerland. Both sets of fans left the ground in the most orderly fashion and it was almost as if a football match had never taken place. Well, there had been a World Cup qualifier in Malta and eventually England had achieved a much healthier victory than at first seemed possible. So what was all the fuss about? It's time to welcome Slovakia to Wembley on Monday and another in the long running instalment of the saga that is the England football team. World Cup qualifiers are good for the soul are they not? It's next year in Russia. Now that sounds like the perfect challenge.