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Battling England 4-1 for perfect ten in qualifying

ENGLAND are 4-5 with Hills to remain unbeaten in Euro 2016 qualifying after coming from behind to beat Slovenia 3-1 at Wembley on Saturday.

Wayne Rooney made his 100th appearance in an England shirt and was subsequently a popular first goalscorer punt, so bookmakers were bruised when he landed the gamble with a 59th-minute penalty. 

Jordan Henderson’s own goal two minutes earlier does not count in that market but it did spark England into life.

At that stage England were available at 100-30 in-play but that price didn’t last long, as Rooney got loose in the Slovenia box before being brought down for a spot-kick. 

The England captain powered in the equaliser from 12 yards to reward those who had backed him at a best-priced 4-1 with Ladbrokes to score first.

Rooney landing the first-scorer honours was frustrating for bookmakers including bet365, who reported they unsurprisingly laid plenty on the England skipper making the breakthrough.

But it was Rooney’s former Manchester United team-mate Danny Welbeck who struck twice to settle the game in the hosts’ favour.

Before last night’s late matches, five-goal Welbeck was the top scorer in European qualifying.

Bet365 and Hills are offering 4-1 that Group E leaders England, who have won all four of their qualifiers, also emerge victorious from their six remaining group matches. 

Coral are just 1-10 that England top their group. 

The Three Lions face Scotland in a friendly at Celtic Park on Tuesday and are 11-10 to stretch their winning streak to six games by seeing off Gordon Strachan’s men.

Scotland beat Ireland 1-0 in a hard-fought battle on Friday and are 3-1 to get the better of England in the British duel, although Strachan has said he expects to rest several players after the draining clash with Ireland.

Fabio Capello’s precarious position as Russia manager was further unsettled by a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Austria, who are dominating a competitive Group G.

The biggest shock of Saturday’s early fixtures saw 14-1 Liech­ten­stein stun Moldova, but the best result for bookmakers came in England’s group, where 1-6 Estonia were held to a 0-0 draw by San Marino. The match had been 8-1 to finish all-square. 

San Marino had lost 61 consecutive competitive games but held firm to claim their first point since 2001.

It has been a fantastic weekend for several of Europe’s smaller nations, as Faroe Islands landed odds of 25-1 by stunning Greece 1-0 in Athens on Friday night.

Reports on Saturday indicated that Claudio Ranieri had been dismissed from his role as Greece manager.

Andriy Yarmolenko scored a hat-trick to give Ukraine a 3-0 victory over Luxembourg.

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