Scotland 1 England 3: Rooney brace settles battle of noisy neighbours

The restoration of a regular bunfight against the English didn't seem quite so appealing last night after Scotland were comfortably beaten by Roy Hodgson's superior team at Parkhead.

Long before the end the home stands had thinned out. Supporters headed home, to think again about Euro 2016. The instinctive reaction was to do what they could to forget about a night of sore anti-climax at Parkhead.

The pre-match pageantry - fireworks, flamethrowers, giant floating flags, The Proclaimers over the sound system, lusty booing of the respective anthems - injected plenty of life into the Scotland fans. The goals sucked it out of them.

In England's first visit to Glasgow for 15 years they recorded their third consecutive win on Scottish soil. Over the two most recent, 15 months ago at Wembley and here, Scotland's enjoyment was dampened by losing both and conceding six goals. If London was a vibrant, close contest, this rematch showed a difference in quality.

Scotland could not match the vibrancy and power of Friday's win over Ireland but acknowledgement must be given to the fact they were up against a better side here. Wayne Rooney had a classy night. His two goals eased him ahead of Jimmy Greaves in England's all-time list and he will soon get the three more required to equal Sir Bobby Charlton. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had made it 1-0 at half-time. Andrew Robertson scored Scotland's, which lit a spark England quickly extinguished.

Scotland saw plenty of ball in the first half but in their own half they were unsure of themselves and made errors. A couple of blind passes caused scares. Scott Brown tried a dummy in midfield which was picked up by Danny Welbeck. That, and England matching their aggression and commitment, set the tone.

This was billed as an emotional return to Parkhead for England's goalkeeper, Fraser Forster, but that would depend on whether idleness could be called an emotion. He was very rarely involved.

Chris Martin couldn't do nearly enough to occupy and worry Gary Cahill and Chris Smalling and lasted only until half-time. The injured Steven Fletcher was missed. Shaun Maloney and Steven Naismith were busy, which almost goes without saying, but nothing came off for them. Maloney took a little pass from Naismith but didn't catch his shot properly and skied it well over the bar.

England didn't mind sitting deep at times and letting Scotland pass around in front of them, knowing they had the pace to explode in counter-attacks. They were tidy and assured rather than vibrant or especially commanding. Cahill's early header and a Welbeck effort saved by David Marshall were their only threats before they went ahead. But Scotland's first half possession was all in front of England and after the goals they fell out of the game.

Amid all the noise and colour in the stands England opened the scoring with a goal of quiet ruthlessness, as if they smiled and pulled an old friend in for an embrace while plunging a dagger in their side. Jack Wilshere floated a long, long ball over the top into space between Grant Hanley and Robertson. Oxlade-Chamberlain read it and reacted far better than Hanley to connect with a glancing header and ghost the ball in at the back post. It looked a soft goal to lose but the technique was superb. There was a second or two before Parkhead realised what he'd done.

The English support was in noisy, boisterous, uncompromising form from the start, although there was respect from them as they observed the minute's applause for Nathan McSeveney, the young Scotland fan who died after a fall at last Friday's game. A "f*** off Scotland, we all voted Yes" was a witty reference to the independence vote but a long drone about the IRA was tiresome and irrelevant. These fans, with their St George's flags from Doncaster, Barnsley, Carlisle, Sheffield and Macclesfield, tried to noise up the Scotland fans by whatever means necessary and lorded it when the goals went in.

Charlie Mulgrew fouled Oxlade-Chamberlain. James Milner's free-kick spun up off Robertson in the box and Rooney's reactions and technique were superb as he buried a firm header past Craig Gordon.

The poor Scotland goalkeeper. After a four-year wait for his 41st cap he came on at half-time and was beaten within 120 seconds.

James Morrison and Darren Fletcher came on at half-time, too, for Brown and Chris Martin. Naismith went to centre-forward until Stevie May came off the bench for his debut (as did Johnny Russell), but after the second goal Scotland's bigger issue was was keeping their shape and discipline as England looked more comfortable than ever. Wilshere should have scored a late shot and made it 3-0.

Maybe if Russell Martin had scored his header from a Mulgrew free-kick after the Rooney goal Scotland would have had a much earlier foothold in the second half. Forster, finally woken, had a save to make and delivered.

There was too much to do even when Russell found Robertson and he drilled a low shot inside Forster's post to score. England restored their two-goal lead instantly. Scotland went to sleep and Adam Lallana pulled it back from the byline for Rooney to bury his second.

If only Martin had scored. If only they had been able to worry England for longer. In this oldest fixture of them all, nothing is more ancient than Scottish maybes.