England 1 Belgium 0

Welbeck, who had a successful spell on loan at Sunderland two seasons ago, delightfully chipped his former colleague at the Stadium of Light Simon Mignolet nine minutes before half-time to defeat Belgium.

In the final warm-up match for England before their Euro 2012 campaign there were signs of promise, with the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Welbeck two of those to have shown glimpses of what they can offer.

But Belgium, who had plenty of possession without doing much to threaten Joe Hart's goal, could quite easily have earned a draw in front of more than 85,000 at Wembley.

Belgium, with an array of young talent being tracked by Europe's top clubs, had no intention of making it easy for England and set up with three forwards. Eden Hazard, the Chelsea new-boy, was the central figure, although effectively given freedom to roam.

But their manager, Marc Wilmots, was forced to make a late change to his starting line-up because of an injury picked up in the warm-up by Manchester City skipper Vincent Kompany. Timmy Simons was called up.

And it wasn't long before Hodgson had to make a similar alteration. When Dries Mertens shoved Gary Cahill towards Joe Hart, the two England players collided and the centre-back had to depart inside 20 minutes with a facial injury.

He had to have a precautionary x-ray on his jaw.

Before that opportunities in front of goal had been few and far between. The two which England had created both fell to teenager Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Oxlade-Chamberlain, given a chance to shine on the left, found himself in plenty of space on two occasions. With the first one he slipped and directed a James Milner pass out for a corner, then with a second curled wide from Welbeck's rolled pass.

But then, after a few meaty challenges from both teams, Welbeck showed Oxlade-Chamberlain exactly how to do it inside 36 minutes.

The Manchester United striker, earning his fifth cap, timed his overlapping run perfectly to get beyond the Belgium defence to meet Ashley Young's through pass. With Sunderland goalkeeper Mignolet to beat, Welbeck cleverly chipped his finish over his former team-mate to put England ahead.

With half-time soon after, that opening goal proved to be Welbeck's last meaningful contribution as eight minutes in to the second half he was replaced by Wayne Rooney.

Hodgson was keen to give Rooney, who is suspended for the opening two games at Euro 2012, some preparation time before the finals and, without threatening the Belgium goal, that's exactly what he got.

In fact had Belgium, who had plenty of possession moving forward, been able to pose more of a threat in the England area then the outcome would have been different.

Instead Hart, the England goalkeeper, was only really asked to bend down and pick up the shots that rolled in his direction from the Belgium forward line.

After that it was a case of Hodgson – and Wilmots - introducing more and more substitutes, while watching the England defence do enough to keep Belgium's advances at bay.

When Belgium did finally decide to test their luck from distance, full-back Guillaume Gillet shaved the upright from 25 yards and there could have been few complaints had it gone in.

After that Jermain Defoe, a replacement for Young, also hit the woodwork for England and Jan Vertonghen, lined up to join Tottenham this week, turned a free header over Hart's bar.

It might not have been brilliant, but England head for Euro 2012 on the back of two straight victories under new boss Hodgson.

ENGLAND (4-4-1-1): Hart; Johnson, Cahill (Lescott 19), Terry (Jagielka 70), Cole; Milner, Parker, Gerrard (Henderson 83), Oxlade-Chamberlain (Walcott 66); Young (Defoe 66), Welbeck (Rooney 53). Subs: Jones, Green (gk), Baines, Downing, Carroll, Butland (gk).

BELGIUM (4-3-3): Mignolet; G Gillet, Vertonghen, Simons, Vermaelen; Witsel, Fellaini, Dembele; Mertens (Lukaku 72), Hazard, Mirallas (Chadli 59). Subs: Renard (gk), De Camargo, Pocognoli, Benteke, Vossen, Odoi, De Cuelaer, Defour, Nainggolan.