Cole warms to Crouch

England goalscoring hero Joe Cole paid tribute to Peter Crouch after the pair helped the Three Lions to a crucial win in Estonia.

Cole cracked home a Crouch flick-on to put England ahead in the first half before watching the Liverpool striker double the lead early in the second half with a cute header.

"He was brilliant tonight," Cole told TheFA.com. "Especially as the pitch was poor we knew we might have to play long at times. He played really well. He made a goal and scored a goal - he did well."

Although Cole was keen to herald the provider of his goal, the Chelsea man displayed a first-class technique to control the ball on this chest before swivelling and driving it home on the half-volley.

It was his seventh goal in 40 appearances for his country.

"It's one where you don't have much time to think," he said, recalling his 37th minute goal. "You try to turn and hit it and luckily it went in."

Although Estonia's results have been poor as they attempt to qualify for Euro 2008, they set about the task of causing an upset on Wednesday night with great enthusiasm. Cole said his teammates knew they would have to keep the hosts at bay early on.

"It was a good performance," he added. "We started really well and won the game in the first 20 minutes. We really pressed them. Mentally we were up for the game and we eventually broke them down. We are very happy.

"It was important [to start well]. They were going to come out flying, it's a cup final for them. It's notoriously difficult to come to places this side of the world and get results."

With Russia and Croatia cancelling each other out, England have given their hopes of reaching next summer's showpiece event a real boost.

"We have four games at Wembley and one away game. It's still in our own hands - we need to win them."