Harry Kane's Injury-Time Goal Powers England Past Slovenia, into 2018 World Cup

England are on their way to the 2018 FIFA World Cup after Harry Kane rose deep into injury time to secure a 1-0 win and claim top spot in Group F for manager Gareth Southgate's side with one qualifier remaining.

The Three Lions looked uninspired for large portions of their penultimate qualifying match but held on to sneak in a late winner, while Scotland's 1-0 win over 10-man Slovakia means they look likely to finish second.

Southgate's men can now afford to rest easier ahead of their final qualification matchup in Lithuania on Sunday, pitting them against a team that's won only one of their nine matches in Group F thus far.

After an early bout of English domination, Slovenia put their hosts under threat for a nervous couple of minutes and managed to test Joe Hart through the likes of Atalanta forward Josip Ilicic, one of their more accomplished stars.

Ilicic had a strong penalty shout denied, and Hart was fortunate not to give away a spot-kick when he went sliding in to clear the Slovenian's attack, missing the ball and brushing his opponent's leg in his own box.

Given the fact World Cup qualification was at stake, one might have expected a sell-out crowd at Wembley Stadium, but football writer Tom McDermott hinted at the thousands of empty seats on display in London:

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, in just his fourth start for club and country since joining Liverpool from Arsenal this past summer, formed a pacy attacking trio with Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling, looking to free Kane up front.

Despite the prize on offer, England looked fairly pedestrian throughout the opening half-hour and failed to assert themselves strongly. The Northern Echo's Scott Wilson detailed a long-range Jordan Henderson attempt as their closest chance up until that point:

The hosts eventually did find the back of the net on the 40-minute mark, only for Gary Cahill's header from a corner to be pulled after Sterling was adjudged to have fouled his marker in the box.

Rashford stood out as one of the few positives for England in the opening half and almost caught Slovenia No. 1 Jan Oblak unaware just before the interval, stinging the 'keeper's mitts with a cheekily whipped free-kick from range.

The United teenager might have been fielded out to the left—as has been the case at Old Trafford this season—but Rashford nevertheless looked like England's most likely route to goal, per Match of the Day's Gary Lineker:

Slovenia again started the second half the brighter of the two teams, and Ilicic was again at the heart of more pressure placed on Hart, teeing up team-mate Bojan Jokic to test the goalkeeper with a header from five yards out.

Slovenia had only had three attempts at goal after 60 minutes of play, per WhoScored.com, but somehow the visiting team looked the more threatening of the two and were only growing in confidence as the game wore on.

Jesse Lingard came on for Oxlade-Chamberlain in a bid to change the tempo, and just like that, England embarked upon a series of near misses that should have put them ahead. Sterling threaded Rashford through on goal only for him to spurn his chance with an under-hit chip and then saw a chance of his own blocked on the line:

With the game still scoreless entering the last eight minutes, Hart persevered through an apparent niggle to pull off a brave save from Slovenian substitute Tim Matavz, who was inches away from an unlikely opener.

And just when it looked as though England would be the ones settling for a draw, a poor Oblak throw out from goal found its way back to Kane, who slid in from close range on the end of Kyle Walker's teasing cross, via ITV:

Oblak had been largely faultless until his attempt at a quick counter found its way to Walker, a mistake that not only gave England their seventh win in nine qualifiers but ended Slovenia's slim hopes of making it to Russia.

The Three Lions may be through to the World Cup, but their decisive moment came about with more of a whimper than a roar, and Southgate's side need huge improvements if they're to challenge for silverware in Russia next year.