David Beckham was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in the second half against Austria, but the Three Lions held on to secure a 1-0 win thanks to a first half penalty from Frank Lampard.

Eriksson believes his captain was very unfortunate to receive his marching orders after 59 minutes for a foul on Andreas Ibertsberger – just two minutes after picking up his first booking.

And the England manager gave a special mention to his side for their fighting spirit. He said: "I think in the second half we defended brilliantly, we were all together and fighting. I don’t think they had a chance to score in the second half.

"I thought the sending off was harsh. On the first yellow card his arm was out but he was not trying to hurt anyone. It is a free kick but no more. On the second one I don’t know if he even touches him at all but there was no intention by him."

Beckham will now miss England’s final World Cup Qualifying match against Poland on Wednesday through suspension, and Sven received another blow after the news that defender Sol Campbell will also miss out.

Arsenal centre back Campbell had returned to the starting line-up in place of Rio Ferdinand, but limped off after 65 minutes with a hamstring problem.

Eriksson confirmed: "Beckham is definitely out, and so is Sol with a hamstring problem."

Peter Crouch made his full debut and made a good impression with his link up play. He joined Michael Owen in a two man front line and Eriksson was impressed by his start.

Eriksson said: "We kept the same formation after David was sent off, and we let Michael Owen drop a little bit. I took him off near the end because I thought he was tired due to coming back and then trying to get forward to support Crouch.

"As a performance I think we played very well and I’m very happy with the boys. I think Peter was effective. He is a young boy and has not played many times. But he was fighting, running and jumping - and many of the chances we created were from the long balls to him."

England could qualify for the World Cup in Germany if Holland beat Czech Republic tonight but Eriksson added: "Wednesday is another game and we have to win that as well - and I think we will do that."