Belarus coach Bernd Stange felt Wayne Rooney's first goal shortly after half time, which restored England's lead, was the turning point of the game.

He said: "In the first half, I felt it was the best we have ever played in Minsk but it was still not good enough to get a result against England.

"They are strong and powerful and I felt their second goal broke our team totally."

Stange also felt that Belarus missed the influence in midfield of the former Arsenal star Alexander Hleb through injury.

He said: "It is obvious that Hleb is a very important player for us and we don't have a good substitute to replace him.

"Fabio Capello has five or six good players for every position. We do not have such a variety of good players."

Gerrard broke the deadlock for England after good play by Rooney but England were rocked back on their heels when Pavel Sitko headed home an equaliser before half time.

But Rooney restored England's advantage five minutes after the break converting a cross from Heskey and then the Manchester United player wrapped up the game when he took advantage of good play by Gerrard.