30 March 2005    
Post Match: Frank Lampard interview

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Frank Lampard believes England have learned the art of patience after beating Azerbaijan yesterday.

The Three Lions won 2-0 at St James’ Park, Newcastle, to stay clear at the top of World Cup Qualifying Group 6, with Lampard once again impressive.

It wasn’t the goal feast that some people predicted and England had to wait more than 50 minutes to break the deadlock.

But Chelsea midfielder Lampard believes the way the players stayed focused, despite seeing so many chances go unrewarded, proves their new maturity.

He said: "You have to learn the art of patience playing at home, and I've learned that at Chelsea because people come to our place and keep men behind the ball. The Manchester United players are probably used to that as well.It's all about how to break them down and about staying patient.

"There were certainly a lot of defenders and midfielders in the way, for us, but credit to Azerbaijan because they worked hard.

"I think we could have had better luck in the first half and got more goals than we did. But the end result was what mattered."

Lampard was once again hugely influential in England’s victory, striking the post with one superb effort and seeing another well saved.

He also played the glorious 60-yard pass that put Captain David Beckham through for England’s crucial second goal – just 10 minutes after Steven Gerrard had opened the scoring.

"We could have scored more goals because we created untold chances," he admitted. "The only slightly disappointing thing on the night was that they didn't all go in for us.

"But that’s six points in a week and that’s what matters. We needed to win these two games and we did very comfortably. I think it was a similar kind of game to the Northern Ireland match. If we'd scored early in the first half we would have gone on and scored a lot more goals.

"Their keeper let in eight the other day but dramatically improved against us and made some decent saves. It didn't quite drop for us at one stage, but we kept playing, kept calm and kept creating chances. That says a lot about us."

To watch the Frank Lampard post-match interview, click on the links above.