TALLINN: Wayne Rooney’s 43rd England goal in his 99th international secured a 1-0 win in Estonia in their Euro 2016 qualifier and lifted him six short of becoming the country’s greatest ever marksman.

His 74th-minute free-kick was fumbled into the net by keeper Sergei Pareiko after England, for much of the match, had looked like coming away from the Le Coq Arena with nothing.

Roy Hodgson’s team dominated the game from start to finish but wasted chance after chance even after Estonia captain Ragnar Klavan was sent off three minutes into the second half for a second booking.

Danny Welbeck and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were guilty of missing chances but the biggest culprit was Rooney, who spurned three good opportunities.

Estonia, ranked 81st in the world, might have held on for a famous draw had the England captain not made up for his mistakes by clipping a majestic dipping free-kick over the wall and into the net off the post.

Hodgson, who started with “tired” Raheem Sterling on the bench, spoke of the attacking potency of his squad before the match, but he will be concerned about the profligacy his players exhibited.

Still, the England manager will also be mindful that his team have now recorded three wins from three in their Euro 2016 qualification campaign.

Slovenia won 2-0 in Lithuania to move alongside their opponents in second place on six points. Milivoje Novakovic scored both goals in the space of five first-half minutes.

Slovakia remain surprise leaders of Group C after a 3-1 win over Belarus.

While Spain and Ukraine each recorded their second win, they were left sharing second after Jan Kozak’s side retained their 100pc record.

Captain Marek Hamsik’s opener was cancelled out by Timofey Kalachev but late goals from Hamsik, again, and Stanislav Sestak secured victory.

Diego Costa finally opened his Spain scoring account – in his seventh appearance after switching his national allegiance from Brazil, and after missing a hat-full of chances – in a 4-0 win over Luxembourg.

David Silva and Paco Alcacer had already given La Rioja a decisive advantage and Bayern Munich defender Juan Bernat’s goal rounded off a comfortable win.

Serhiy Sydorchuk’s first-half goal gave Ukraine a narrow 1-0 victory over Macedonia.

Austria moved clear at the top of the Group G standings as they edged out Montenegro 1-0 at home.

Rubin Okotie’s first-half strike was all that separated the teams on the night in Vienna, but it was enough to send Austria two points clear with Russia being held by Moldova in Moscow.

Artem Dzjuba put Russia ahead from the penalty spot in the 72nd minute but Alexandru Epureanu levelled with a header inside the next two minutes.

Sweden joined Russia on five points with their first win, 2-0 over Liechtenstein with a deflected goal from Erkan Zengin in the first half and a farcical Jimmy Durmaz strike early in the second.

##############

*