The Chelsea midfielder was instrumental for the Three Lions as he scored the opening goal just after half-time to set England on the road to another Group 6 win.

England have found it difficult to find someone to fill the left midfield position on a regular basis in recent years, but Cole hopes he has impressed Eriksson enough to keep himself in the side.

Cole said: "I enjoyed the game today. It was important for me to keep my shape and be disciplined and from when we were 3-0 up I just tried to keep things simple and do my bit for the team.

"We've got to be happy with that win. I thought Northern Ireland worked tremendously hard in the first half, we had a lot of the ball but without too many clear cut chances.

"But Old Trafford is a big pitch and we knew they would tire so we didn't panic and we had a blistering spell at the start of the second half.

"Maik Taylor was on form and made some good saves for them but it was nice to get my goal, but as I said I wanted to show the boss I could be disciplined and keep the shape."

But Cole insists he will not get carried away despite his headline grabbing performance in the 4-0 victory.

Sven's men take on Azerbaijan on Wednesday night in another vital World Cup Qualifier, and Cole is already setting his sights on producing another top class showing.

Cole added: "I'm not going to get carried away. It was a good performance from the lads today and I did alright, but we have a game on Wednesday as well and in football things can turn around in a second.

"So I'll enjoy the rest of the day because it's a good day for England - but then I'll be focused on Wednesday."

Frank Lampard hopes England can add to their fantastic win over Northern Ireland by collecting another three points against Azerbaijan on Wednesday.

The Chelsea midfielder was on target for England's fourth goal at Old Trafford as England kept themselves at the top of Group 6.

Lampard insists it was a great feeling to score the Three Lions' final goal of a thrilling afternoon, and wants to steer England even closer to the World Cup Finals with another victory at St James' Park on Wednesday night.

Lampard said: "We were already clearly winning by the time I scored but it felt great.

"Joe done well and scored the goal which opened the floodgates so that was great. It's a great sign that two goals came from midfield, we do that at Chelsea and a lot of big teams have that so it's great.

"We want to win these two games, we've done the first and now we play Azerbaijan. We expect to win but won't take it lightly. If we keep the same attitude as we did today I'm sure we'll win."

Defender Gary Neville is also looking forward to the chance to collect another victory against Azerbaijan on Wednesday but insists matches are not always as easy as they look on paper.

Neville said: "It was quite a comfortable afternoon for us and we played particularly well for the 15 minutes at the start of the second half.

"We look forward to the next game just as we did Northern Ireland. But these games are sometimes tougher than they look and it's all about getting the first goal."