"I think he was excellent considering it was his first game," said the England coach. "He scored a beautiful goal and played very well. He did exactly what we wanted him to do."

There can be no doubt that Vassell deserved his man of the match award, but Eriksson was also pleased with the overall performance of his team in a game of many substitutions.

"I think it was a good football game," said the coach. "Maybe they had more possession, but we created more occasions.

"It's a fair result and with a bit of luck at the end we could have won the game."

Eriksson explained that the new 4-3-3 system was very much part of the long-term planning of his coaching team.

"We played 10 games last year and when I came we were in the middle of the World Cup qualification and there was never time to try something different," he said.

"We wanted to do that today because going to the World Cup with just one system is not good if things don't function.

"We tried this today and it was good. We did much better against Holland than in August - and we are now a bit wiser."

Eriksson was also keen to compliment the other two players making their first starts for the England senior team.

"Wayne Bridge had a very good game, and it was a shame that he had to come off injured.

"Ricketts had a difficult job but came out very well from the game."

As for what he had learned from the match, Eriksson can only see positives.

"I like to have a lot of problems selecting the squad - it's good to see players come in and do well against good opponents.

"We will go on travelling around to see games and players and we stil have a lot of time before the 2nd of June."

England captain David Beckham was also keen to praise the players making their debuts.

"The new boys have done well, and of course Darius scored," said the skipper.

"I think they've enjoyed their time with the lads, and they've played well tonight."