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England paid a heavy price for a 4-0 friendly win over Slovakia at Wembley after three strikers limped off injured.

Emile Heskey, Carlton Cole and Peter Crouch are doubts for the World Cup qualifier against Ukraine on Wednesday after a near-comical sequence of events left Wayne Rooney as the only fully-fit striker in the squad.

Rooney took a knock late on to give Fabio Capello a fright but he shrugged it off to complete the 90 minutes and score with the last move of the match.

Heskey bagged the opening goal but was withdrawn with an Achilles problem on 15 minutes.

His replacement Cole came off nursing his groin 20 minutes later and - midway through the second half - his stand-in Crouch received a knock on the hip and was sent straight to the treatment room.

Later in the match Rooney scored a deserved brace that sandwiched a Frank Lampard goal in a game England dominated.

David Beckham impressed as a substitute to receive his 109th cap for England, breaking Bobby Moore's record for an outfield player, but his achievement was eclipsed by England's confident performance and the potential striker crisis that developed on the pitch.

England started with the kind of pace and width in attack that tore apart Croatia in the 4-1 win in Zagreb earlier in their World Cup qualifying campaign.

The tempo was high and Aaron Lennon in particular gave the sluggish Slovakia defence a torrid opening to a game it seemed the visitors had not turned up for.

The hosts took the lead on seven minutes and it was Heskey who finished an exhilarating move with a near-post finish off the woodwork after Rooney and Steven Gerrard combined stylishly down the left.

Heskey's first England goal since his friendly strike against South Africa in 2003 owed as much to a wildly off-target challenge by Martin Skrtel as it did the build-up play.

Liverpool defender Skrtel looks far more composed at the back when playing alongside club team-mate Jamie Carragher.

Carragher, ironically, would have started in the absence of the injured Rio Ferdinand had he not churlishly retired from the national team.

Without him Skrtel was getting dragged inside and out, apparently unaware of his positioning and gifting Lampard and Gerrard good chances to get a second for England.

Worryingly for England, though, Ferdinand's replacement Matthew Upson seemed a touch shaky and almost gifted Slovakia an equaliser when he inexplicably let an ill-advised pass from Ashley Cole roll across his body to Robert Vittek, whose shot was tipped over by David James.

The oft-criticised James was one of England's better performers as Slovakia slowly woke from their collective slumber and the Portsmouth shot-stopper saved well from Miroslav Karhan when England went to sleep at a Slovakia corner.

The second half, however, saw Slovakia retreat into their shells as England passed and moved well.

It took them a while to break Vladimir Weiss's side down though, as the first real chance of the half came on 62 minutes, when Terry poked Crouch's header over the line from an offside position when it was likely to go in anyway.

After then, though, the floodgates opened as England played with verve and speed while Slovakia stood on as bemused bystanders - replacement goalkeeper Ben Foster had little to do other than annoy Robert Green, who must be wondering if he would be better off buying a Greek passport than waiting for an England cap.

Rooney, Terry and Crouch all went close to extending the lead before Rooney headed a superbly-weighted Beckham cross into the top left for 2-0 on 70 minutes.

Crouch went off, Rooney had his worrying wobble but Lampard added a third when he drilled low past keeper Stefan Senecky after a quickly-taken free-kick on 77 minutes.

Man-of-the-match Rooney sealed the win in injury time with a neat touch and finish after Lampard's excellent low-swung cross from the left.

The Manchester United forward was arguably offside but that barely mattered with the concerns entirely about who will partner him on Wednesday in a match that England can use to pull clear of the chasing pack in Group 6.

Reda Maher / Eurosport