The duo were the surprise inclusions in Sven's team, but neither let the manager down and Defoe capped a fine showing with a sublime goal in the first half.

England had to rely on an own goal to secure victory, but Eriksson believes the team deserved it for all their hard work over the last week.

He said: "I think we played mainly very well. The performance we did today was as good as Saturday, butthis time we got the victory. We played very well for the ninety minutes.

"Today it is congratulations to the team, they all did very very well.

"Both Defoe and Robinson played very very well. Jermain was the goalscorer. He is a huge talent, quick and a great scorer and I am very happy for him. Robinson did everything what he should do, but did it very calmly."

England's win on Wednesday saw them claim four points from their first two World Cup qualifiers - a good return going in to the double header against Wales and Azerbaijan next month. 

"We battled here, but we were a little bit sloppy and not aggressive enough for some of the time in Austria and you can't afford to do that at international level.

"I'm sorry to say the media over-reacted after we drew in Austria. People were saying the World Cup dream was over after one game and one draw. It is very difficult to understand."