England, Spain get crucial wins

England striker Danny Welbeck celebrates one of his two goals with Arsenal teammate Kieran Gibbs (R) against Slovenia at the Wembley in London on Saturday. Photo: AFP

England and reigning champions Spain both secured home victories in Euro 2016 qualifying on Saturday as some of the continent's minnows again enjoyed outstanding results.

A turgid Group E encounter between England and Slovenia at Wembley came to life in the second half as Roy Hodgson's side fought back to win 3-1 and make it four wins from four games in Group E.

Spain had a routine 3-0 victory against Belarus in Group C, which saw the current European champions make it three wins from four qualifiers.

Real Madrid midfielder Isco marked his first start for La Roja by scoring a brilliant first-half opener and Barcelona duo Sergio Busquets and Pedro Rodriguez added further goals.

Meanwhile, after the Faroe Islands recorded a stunning 1-0 win in Greece on Friday, prompting the demise of Claudio Ranieri as coach of the 2004 European champions, San Marino and Liechtenstein claimed famous results of their own.

San Marino, ranked 208th and joint-last in the world by FIFA alongside Bhutan, ended a run of 61 consecutive defeats by holding Estonia to a 0-0 draw at home in Group E.

Liechtenstein fared even better, a second-half goal by captain Franz Burgmeier securing a 1-0 victory in Moldova in Group G.

Europe's largest nation Russia went down 1-0 in Austria in the same group to increase the pressure on coach Fabio Capello.

The only goal of the game in Vienna was scored by 1860 Munich's Pakistan-born striker Rubin Okotie in the 73rd minute, moments after officials had deemed that another effort by the same player had not crossed the line.

Austria are now four points clear at the top of the group from Sweden, who were held to a 1-1 draw in Montenegro.

Captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic gave the visitors an early lead, but Stevan Jovetic equalised.

Elsewhere, Ukraine claimed a win in Group C with a 3-0 victory in Luxembourg.

Ukraine and Spain are three points behind Slovakia, who continued their perfect record in the qualifying campaign by defeating Macedonia 2-0 in Skopje.

And in England's Group E Switzerland beat Lithuania 4-0.