Joe Cole spared the blushes as England finally overcame the minnows of Andorra 2-0 in their opening World Cup qualifier.

The Chelsea midfielder has not been in the first XI for the last four internationals but his contribution after coming on as a second-half substitute means he is in pole position to play against Croatia in Zagreb on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old had come off the bench to net a last-gasp equaliser in last month's final friendly international with the Czech Republic at Wembley Stadium.

But this was more crucial as two goals from the former West Ham player in the space of six minutes early in the second half eased the frustration of the players and supporters after an uninspiring first 45 minutes.

Capello made four changes from the side held 2-2 at home by the Czechs, the most significant of which was to leave out David Beckham after starting him in the previous four friendlies.

For all their possession, England had only a couple of half-chances to show for their efforts and failed to produce a single on-target effort in the opening 45 minutes.

Theo Walcott found Wayne Rooney, without an international goal for 11 months, in some space just inside the Andorran box and he would have been disappointed not to have at least hit the target as his left-footed drive flew over the bar.

Lampard reacted quickly on the edge of the Andorran penalty area and his well struck shot on the turn flew only a yard wide with goalkeeper Koldo scrambling across his goal-line.

But that was the sum of England's first-half threat despite having 81% of possession against a side who operated with Fernando Silva as their only striker.

Too often they were guilty of some woeful crossing into the Andorran box with Stewart Downing a major culprit.

It was no surprise that he was replaced by Cole for the second half with Capello also bringing on Emile Heskey in place of Jermain Defoe to partner Rooney.

Silva was yellow-carded for bringing down Glen Johnson - and from the free-kick by Lampard, England broke the deadlock after 49 minutes.

Joleon Lescott was first to react to the ball into the box by the Chelsea midfielder and, when it was turned back across the box, Cole was ideally placed to volley home in clinical fashion.

Six minutes later Cole struck for the second time. Gareth Barry and Rooney were involved in the build-up before the Chelsea man's first-time effort beat Koldo's dive.

The tension had been eased and Johnson thought he had added a third with a fierce low drive only for Cole to have strayed offside.

England now face Croatia, and Cole told Setanta Sports: "You have to judge us on Wednesday's game. They are fifth in the world and we still have a lot to prove. We have to move on now and try and win the next game.

"This game and Wednesday's game wil be two different animals. You can't compare them. They are tough games to play on a sticky pitch like this but Croatia is what it's all about."

Capello told Setanta Sports: "We had a lot of chances. I'm happy because it's a very important three points.

"In the first half we played well for the first 15 or 20 minutes and had two chances to score goals."

Catch the Andorra-England highlights on our mediaplayer!