Four successive victories represent an exemplary start for Eriksson in his new job and though it is far too early to compare this side to some of England's great elevens of the past, the victory was certainly one of the most comprehensive in recent history. Eriksson's in-form outfit beat Mexico at Pride Park tonight by a four-goal margin to give them an important confidence boost ahead of next month's World Cup qualifier against Greece.

On a balmy summer's evening and on an immaculate end-of-season Pride Park pitch which Eriksson hailed as "10 out of 10", England comprehensively dismantled a young Mexican side which showed some neat touches but were, in truth, never in the game after the second minute.

That was how long it took Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes to set England on their way to their record-breaking victory. Picking the ball up in the inside left position, Scholes fed the ball into Steven Gerrard before making a run on the Liverpool player's blind side to receive the return. Seeing Scholes in space, Gerrard rolled a sideways pass sympathetically into his run, allowing him to strike a venomous first time drive that soared into the net from fully thirty yards. The quality of the strike should not surprise us - Scholes has produced many such an effort for Manchester United over the last few seasons - but the immaculate execution of such a long range effort so early in the game brought the crowd to its feet, before most of whom had even had chance to take their seats.

Once in the ascendancy, England sensed that the Mexicans were there for the taking and went about increasing their advantage ruthlessly and in highly entertaining fashion. The quick tempo passing game that the home team employed greatly pleased both Eriksson and the capacity Pride Park crowd. With Fowler, Beckham, Scholes and Gerrard all linking well in a midfield and forward line made up entirely of Manchester United and Liverpool players, some of the passing moves were a joy to behold.

One such piece of interplay led to England's second on 14 minutes. Beckham, dropping deep to pick up possession, found the onrushing Gerrard witha perfectly weighted ball down the right hand touchline. Gerrard powered down the wing before crossing early to his Liverpool team-mate Robbie Fowler who was lurking with intent on the penalty spot. Fowler met the whipped centre with the subtlest of flicks, diverting it across Oswaldo Sanchez for England's second.

At this stage one began to sense that it could be England's night - a suspicion that was confirmed on 29 minutes when the captain added his own name to the score sheet with a trademark free kick. After Owen had been brought down 28 yards from goal, Beckham seized on the opportunity, clipping the ball up and over the wall and into the corner of the net. It was a strike that brought back memories of Beckham's first international strike - against Columbia in France'98 - and was a deserved reward for an inspirational 45 minutes from the skipper.

Half time saw Eriksson make eight changes as the former Lazio and Benfica coach took the chance to have a look at some of the younger players in his squad. Carrick, Cole and Carragher were all given the chance to shine and each of them put in composed and impressive performances. Though the second half may not have yielded as many goals as the first, Eriksson will have seen it as a useful exercise and one which will have allowed him to gauge the depth of quality that he has at his disposal.

In fact it was not any of the youngsters that rounded off the scoring but the 35 year old Teddy Sheringham who gave the crowd the fourth goal that they craved. The PFA and Football Writers' Player of the Year has been in magnificent form this year and did not waste the opportunity to show Eriksson he still has the class to make an impact at the very highest level. Sheringham scored England's final goal of the night with a sweetly struck free-kick after Joe Cole had been fouled following a typical piece of trickery down the left flank. It was a strike that earned rich praise from the crowd and indeed the England bench from where one David Beckham could be seen admiringly applauding his teammate's set-piece technique.

After a comprehensive 4-0 victory and a searing run of form to boot, Sven Goran Eriksson is very much the toast of English football tonight. However, the pragmatic Swede is fully aware that, pleasing though this victory may have been, it is the Greece game on June 6 that is the main event and winning a trophy that is the long-term goal. Almost fearful of public expectations rising too high too early, he remained relatively circumspect in victory, preferring to praise his players rather than take any personal accolades.

"I said before I took the job that you have many good players in this country," Eriksson reminded the assembled flock of journalists after the game," and I think this proves it."

England: Martyn (James, 45), Neville.P, Cole. Ash (Powell, 45),Gerrard (Butt, 45), Ferdinand (Carragher, 45), Keown (Southgate, 45), Beckham,capt. (Cole.J, 45), Scholes (Carrick, 45), Fowler (Sheringham, 54), Owen(Smith, 45), Heskey (Mills, 66).

Mexico: Sanchez, Suarez, Beltran (Davino, 45), Oteo, Coyote(Rangel, 77), Ruiz.M, Ruiz.V (Osorno, 57), Rodriguez (Perez, 82), Abundis, DeNigris, Chavez (Pardo, 45).