Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at England's 2-0 victory over Switzerland, a match which saw Wayne Rooney score a record 50th goal for his country.

Wayne Rooney became the first Englishman to score 50 goals for his country to help the Three Lions to a 2-0 victory over Switzerland at Wembley this evening.

The skipper surpassed Sir Bobby Charlton's mark of 49 international goals, which had stood since 1970, with a powerful penalty into the top corner after Raheem Sterling had been tripped inside the box.

Harry Kane had earlier come off the bench to give his side the lead with a little over 20 minutes remaining as England maintained their 100% Euro 2016 qualifying record.

Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at whether the hosts deserved to come away with another three points.

Match statistics

ENGLAND
Shots: 16
On target: 7
Possession: 49%
Corners: 3
Fouls: 14

SWITZERLAND
Shots: 9
On target: 1
Possession: 51%
Corners: 8
Fouls: 11

Was the result fair?

This match was fairly even for long spells, but England generally looked the more threatening of the two teams and deserve the victory this evening. They created the better chances on the night, with Switzerland only managing one or two genuine goalscoring opportunities. It was the hosts who started the brighter, despite losing Fabian Delph to injury inside the first 30 seconds of the match, with Gary Cahill, Rooney and James Milner all having sights of goal in the opening 20 minutes.

Switzerland soon gained a foothold in the game, however, and they were the better side for the final 15 minutes or so of the first half. Xherdan Shaqiri became more influential for the visitors, although it was he who squandered the only real chance Switzerland were able to create during that period. Even so, it was the visitors who were on top going into the break, but England started the second half better and began to deal with Switzerland's movement more effectively.

It is somewhat surprising to see that the visitors enjoyed more of the ball than England tonight as, in the second half especially, it always felt like the hosts had an element of control over the game. Kane's goal gave them a deserved lead and, aside from the history and hysteria that will surround Rooney's penalty, it was an important time for England to strike on the night too. Switzerland were just beginning to put the Three Lions under pressure, but the spot kick put the game out of their reach.

England's performance

The ideal checklist for tonight's match would have contained a win, a clean sheet and Rooney breaking the record. All of those occurred on the night, and Roy Hodgson will leave Wembley pleased with what he saw from his side. It wasn't exactly a vintage display from the hosts, but they overcame tough opposition comfortably enough to maintain their impressive 100% qualifying record and secure their spot as Group E winners.

As mentioned, they started the game well, but they lost their way a bit midway through the first half and allowed Switzerland back into the game. The movement from the likes of Shaqiri and Josip Drmic caused a few problems, but England still managed to limit their visitors' clear sights of goal. Joe Hart was only called into action on a handful of occasions all night, and England can point to a ninth clean sheet in their ongoing 13-match unbeaten run as evidence that they have the base to be successful next summer.

Of course, the headlines will be dominated by Rooney's half-century, and rightly so. The skipper wasn't too involved for the most part, with genuine sights of goal limited until he was handed the chance from the spot. His goal sealed the win on the night and, like him or loathe him, also sealed his place among the England greats. Hodgson was also able to see him up front alongside Kane in a formation that appeared to work. The England boss will take plenty of positives from this one, with the only negative being the injury to Delph.

Switzerland's performance

Expected to challenge England for top spot in Group E having begun the campaign above Hodgson's side in the world rankings, Switzerland now have a bit of work to do to ensure that they will be in France alongside the Three Lions. They showed enough during tonight's performance to suggest that they will get there, though, with Vladimir Petkovic's side matching England for long spells and even spending time in the ascendancy at Wembley.

They enjoyed their best spell of the match during the final 20 minutes of the first half, during which time they got into a number of promising attacking positions. Shaqiri looked dangerous every time he got on the ball in that period, but Petkovic won't be happy with the lack of chances created by his side while they were on top. Shaqiri had the clearest of the lot, but his first touch just showed too much of the ball to Hart, who came out to make a brave stop.

There were other shooting opportunities over the course of the 90 minutes that Switzerland will have felt they should have done better with, but overall they can't have too many complaints at falling short this evening. There was a spell after Kane's opener when they began to look dangerous again, but Rooney's penalty put paid to any hopes of a comeback. Just three points now separate them from third place in Group E and, while failure to qualify would be a shock from this position, October's double-header against San Marino and Estonia does now carry a bit more pressure.

Sports Mole's man of the match

Chris Smalling: The script probably had Rooney as man of the match on the night he broke the record, but the best player this evening was Chris Smalling. The Manchester United man has started the season in fine form, and he continued that today with an authoritative and composed showing at the back.

Biggest gaffe

With a dearth of options in this category, we're going to pick Granit Xhaka for his foul on Sterling inside the penalty area. There wasn't much contact between the two players, but Sterling's quick feet had beaten the Switzerland midfielder, who left his leg out for the winger to go over.

Referee performance

Gianluca Rocchi had a solid enough game in the middle today. The Italian's biggest decision was the penalty shout late on and, in truth, it could have gone either way. The event which followed means that the award of the spot kick won't come under too much scrutiny, though.

What next?

England: England will look to make it 10 wins from 10 qualifying games for the first time in their history when they host Estonia before travelling to Lithuania in October.

Switzerland: Switzerland, meanwhile, still need four points from matches against San Marino and Estonia to guarantee their place at next summer's finals.