Walcott hits hat-trick as England strike back

Group Six:Theo Walcott grabbed a hat-trick and Wayne Rooney scored as England went about answering their critics and avenging their failure to qualifying for Euro 2008 with a 4-1 win over Croatia in Zagreb.

Croatia goal came when Slaven Bilic's side were three down and was merely a late consolation from substitute Mario Mandzukic.

It was all so different to two years ago in the same stadium, when then England coach Steve McClaren opted for an ill-fated 3-5-2 formation and saw his side lose 2-0 in a Euro 2008 qualifier.

Walcott will attract all the headlines and rightly so more than two years after being the shock inclusion in Sven-Goran Eriksson's 2006 World Cup squad.

He only made his full debut for his country in Saturday's 2-0 win over Andorra in Barcelona but did enough to again keep Beckham on the bench until the  losing stages.

But he showed great composure in netting England's first competitive hat-trick since Michael Owen's treble against Germany in Munich seven years ago in another World Cup qualifier.

The visitors went ahead through Walcott in the 26th minute — but they were given a helping hand by the Croatian defence.

Pranjic's clearance rebounding off Josip Simunic into the path of Walcott but the teenager made the most of his fortune as he drilled a fierce low shot  cross Stipe Pletikosa into the corner of the net.

Walcott could have added a second from a similar position soon afterwards but this time Pletikosa was able to tip his effort around the post.

Mladen Petric had a fierce low drive blocked but the Croatians failed to cause any major problems in the opening 45 minutes.

And they became increasingly wary of the pace of Walcott who was cynically sent crashing to the ground off the ball by Simunic after one lightning run — a challenge which earned him a 38th minute yellow card.

England looked composed and Pletikosa did well to get his body behind a low, skimming free-kick from Frank Lampard.

Then after 53 minutes Croatia were reduced to 10 men when Kovac was sent off for an aerial challenge which left Joe Cole bloodied — and replaced by Jermaine Jenas.

England almost instantly made their numerical advantage count — with Walcott striking for the second time.

Heskey and Rooney were involved in the build-up before the overlapping Walcott had time to pick his spot and send a low shot across Pletikosa, mirroring his effort for the first goal.

England were now rampant and in the 63rd minute Rooney ended his 11 month international scoring drought.

Ashley Cole won the ball off Srna, picked out the run of Jenas and his low cross from the left flank was clinically despatched by the Manchester United star.

Lampard had an effort ruled out for offside before Mandzukic beat James from close range with 12 minutes remaining.

But Walcott ended any hopes of a late Croatian revival as he collected a Rooney pass and clipped the ball wide of Pletikosa for his hat-trick.

Group opponents Ukraine join England on six points after Andriy Shevchenko scored for the second qualifier in a row and Serhiy Nazarenko hit the net twice to inspire a 3-1 win over Kazakhstan.

Ukraine, who beat Belarus 1-0 last Saturday, took the game to Kazakhstan and their aggression paid off just before halftime when Nazarenko headed the rebound home after Yevgen Seleznov hit the post.

Shevchenko scored in the 53rd minute before Kazakhstan got one back through Sergey Ostapenko in the 70th minute.

But home hopes were shattered by Nazarenko's second goal that caught Kazakh goalkeeper David Loriya off guard in the 80th minute, sealing the win for Ukraine.

Belarus beat Andorra 3-1 in the group's other early kick-off.