MANCHESTER, England (AFP) - David Beckham celebrated his return to Old Trafford with one of his finest goals in an England shirt as Sven-Goran Eriksson's side imperiously brushed Wales aside with a composed 2-0 win here.
After going ahead through Frank Lampard inside four minutes, England never gave the slightest indication of losing control of the first meeting between the two neighbours in 20 years.
It was not however until Beckham added a second a quarter of an hour before the end that a hopelessly outclassed Wales side were finally killed off in thrilling fashion.
Picking up a loose ball in the inside-left channel, 35 yards from goal, Beckham struck a curling, dipping shot over Paul Jones and into the top far corner of the net.
"Both teams were up for it," said Lampard. "It was a testament to us that we took the sting out of them. We were able to penetrate and we could have won more comfortably."
Michael Owen, who has endured a nightmare move to Real Madrid, said he was pleased with his performance even if his hopes of claiming the opening goal were evaporating.
Lampard's shot came off the heel of the striker on its way into the goal.
"We played three strikers up front and that was a formation to accommodate Wayne (Rooney)," said Owen.
"We created lots of chances and 2-0 was the bare minimum."
Wales, already without first-choice centreback Robert Page, were forced into further defensive restructuring when Andy Melville injured himself in the warm-up.
Jason Koumas came into midfield, Simon Davies was pushed back to right back and Mark Delaney was switched from there to the berth vacated by Melville.
It all looked distinctly rickety and it took England little time to find a crack.
Rio Ferdinand's pass found Owen inside the box with his back to goal and the time to lay the ball back for Lampard to fire in a crisp low shot from the edge of the area.
The ball was headed straight at Paul Jones before it struck Owen's heel and was deflected out of the Welsh goalkeeper's reach, although the goal was officially recorded as Lampard's sixth in his last nine internationals.
Wayne Rooney almost made it two seven minutes later after leaving his minder, Mark Pembridge, for dead with a deft turn and exhilarating burst of acceleration.
The 18-year-old advanced to within 25 yards of goal before striking a drive that was fizzing towards the bottom corner before the slightest of touches from the glove of Jones diverted it onto the post.
Jermain Defoe then managed to get round his marker Danny Gabbidon but pulled his shot wide of the target, and Owen saw an effort blocked by Jones's legs after another defence-splitting run from Rooney.
It was indicative of the stranglehold England had established on the match that 25 minutes had elapsed before the Welsh contingent in the 65,224 crowd were able to cheer an attempt at goal.
Gary Speed's optimistic attempt to catch Paul Robinson off his line with a volley flew over the bar and it was not until just before the break, when Speed headed a Giggs free-kick straight to the England goalkeeper, that Wales actually hit the target for the first time.