Lampard scored his 10th goal for England with a scintillating volley from a Michael Owen cross to hand the Three Lions a 2-1 victory at Old Trafford.

And Cole, who also had an excellent game, says Lampard is rapidly becoming England's talisman.

He said: "Frank does that brilliantly, how he arrives in the box. He has a habit of scoring important goals, none more so than in the qualifying campaign.

"He is a vital member of the team and he is a fantastic player. He is very, very important for us."

Cole says he was happy with England's display against the Poles, in which we played some excellent football.

He said: "We felt it was important to put in a good performance and we did do that.

"We played very well at times and they scored with their only chance. It was a good performance and everyone played well.

"It was a great way to end our qualifying campaign, especially as we finished top of the group which is what we always wanted to do."

"I thought it was a good game and what I would call a really good 'English' performance - there were tackles, it was played at pace, we created chances and did things at a really good high tempo.

"We needed a performance to give everyone a boost and I thought we did that. It was a very decent game."