MANCHESTER, March 26: England took another step towards qualifying for the World Cup with an entertaining 4-0 win over a hopelessly outclassed Northern Ireland here in their group six qualifier on Saturday.

Having failed to translate their comfortable superiority into a single goal before the break, Sven-Goran Eriksson’s side made amends by knocking in four in a 15-minute burst just after the restart.

A well-taken goal gave Joe Cole appropriate reward for a performance that carried his current Chelsea form on to the international stage in his first start in a competitive match for his country.

His strike also proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back in terms of Northern Ireland’s resistance.

Michael Owen’s 29th goal for his country swiftly followed, a piece of magic from Wayne Rooney resulted in Chris Baird putting the ball into his own net and Frank Lampard completed a highly satisfactory afternoon for England with a deflected shot from distance just after the hour mark.

In Cardiff, Austria scored twice in the final eight minutes to beat Wales 2-0 in their World Cup Group Six qualifier at the Millennium Stadium.

Substitute Ivica Vastic broke the deadlock in the 82nd minute with a left-footed strike inside diving goalkeeper Danny Coyne’s near post after a sloppy Ryan Giggs pass inside the Welsh half was intercepted.

Defender Martin Stranzl addde the second four minutes later to secure the points for Austria, who remain third in the group five points behind leaders England, 4-0 winners against Northern Ireland.—Agencies