John Terry scored his first ever goal for the Three Lions as England raced to 3-1 feel-good victory over Hungary - with Theo Walcott becoming the country’s youngest ever debutant.
Terry, who had never scored for his country in 22 previous caps, headed home a David Beckham free-kick to add to a goal from Steven Gerrard and keep Sven-Goran Eriksson’s men buzzing.
The Chelsea captain has just become the father of twins and he marked his goal with the ‘baby rocking’ celebration made famous by Brazil’s Bebeto at the 1994 World Cup Finals.
Brazil went on to win that tournament in America and England will be hoping that's a good omen.
Just for good measure, too, another ‘baby’ - 17-year-old Walcott - came on as a sub to beat Wayne Rooney’s record as England’s youngest ever player in the second half, to the cheers of the Old Trafford crowd.
And fellow sub Peter Crouch scored a superbly crafted and well-finished third for England with five minutes left on the clock to round off a highly satisfactory night.
Head Coach Sven handed the ever-reliable Jamie Carragher a new midfield role in the first half and the Liverpool man responded with a steady performance.
Sharp into the tackle and tidy in possession he looked untroubled before he proved his versatility by moving to right-back after the break.
That gave Eriksson the chance to look at Owen Hargreaves in the central holding role in midfield, a position he has played for the last 12 games for Bayern Munich.
England began the match in steady rather than spectacular fashion and all the action of the first half was packed into the final few minutes before the break.
Gerrard found Beckham after 42 minutes with a superb long-range pass, allowing the England captain to put over a trademark cross for Owen - whose header was superbly saved by Gabor Kiraly, the Crystal Palace goalkeeper.
In the melee that followed, however, Gerrard - who had made up incredible ground - was brought down and England awarded a penalty.
Frank Lampard took it but saw Kiraly turn his effort away - and then Owen’s follow-up header hit the bar.
England were denied again seconds later when a stunning, whipped cross from Beckham was met by a flicked header from Cole at the near post.
The Chelsea man thought he had scored but his effort rolled down off the far post and was cleared off the line - and onto the bar - by defender Laszlo Eger.
England could hardly have been more unlucky, but two quick-fire goals after the break turned the match around.
The breakthrough came after 47 minutes when Gerrard gave England the lead with a downward header from a deep right-wing Beckham cross.
It was a big goal for the Liverpool midfielder, who had been handed an advanced role alongside Michael Owen for this game - and even wore the number nine shirt.
The victory was sealed eight minutes later with Terry's fine header before Hungary replied with a stunning long-range effort from Pal Dardai to make it 2-1 in the 55th minute.
By this stage the action, in contrast to the opening half hour of the match, was breathless - and the crowd were on their feet again when Terry almost extended the lead with another header from a Beckham corner.
The delivery of the England captain was outstanding all night and that is certainly good news going into the World Cup next week.
There was more for the Old Trafford crowd to cheer after 65 minutes when Theo Walcott replaced Gerrard, to become the youngest England player of all time at the age of 17 years and 75 days - beating the record previously held by Wayne Rooney.
Crouch also came off the bench, replacing Owen, and the pair clicked straight away - Walcott almost setting up his teammate with a pacy run and a low cross from the right.
Paul Robinson kept the Three Lions ahead with a stunning save from another Dardai piledriver after that, but there was still time for one last bit of icing on the England cake.
Joe Cole, another player who was impressive all night, jinked across the area before finding Crouch with an intelligent straight pass - and the Liverpool striker turned sharply to finish with a superb right-foot effort across keeper Kiraly.
With just one more game to go before the World Cup starts this was a very satisfying night indeed.
England: Robinson, G Neville (Hargreaves 46), A Cole, Carragher, Ferdinand, Terry (Campbell 76), Beckham (c), Lampard, Gerrard (Crouch 65), Owen (Walcott 65), J Cole.
Subs: Bridge, James, P Neville, Dawson, Carrick, Jenas, Lennon, Downing, Carson, Defoe, Johnson, Foster.
Hungary: Kiraly, Feher, Komlosi (Vanczak 8), Halmosi, Eger, Molnar (Vadocz 82), Huszti, Dardai, Gera, Toth (Torghelle 62), Szabics (Polonkai 73).
Subs: Vegh, Low, Rajczi.
Match Details
Referee: Peter Vink (Netherlands)
Assistants: Adriaan Inia (Netherlands) Wijnand Rutgers (Netherlands)
Fourth Official: Chris Foy (England)
Attendance: 56,323