England confirmed their place in the 2014 World Cup this evening, beating Poland 2-0 at Wembley to remain top of Group H.
The hosts almost took the lead after 27 minutes when Andros Townsend's powerful curling effort from range rattled the crossbar.
It was Wayne Rooney who did break the deadlock, however, nodding in Leighton Baines's perfectly-weighted cross just before half time.
Captain Steven Gerrard settled England nerves in the 88th minute by securing the crucial win with a chipped finish past Wojciech Szczesny in the Poland goal.
Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at a highly-entertaining 90 minutes of football.
Match statistics:
England:
Shots 23
On target 9
Possession 61%
Corners 17
Fouls 7
Poland:
Shots 9
On target 2
Possession 39%
Corners 4
Fouls 7
Was the result fair?
Yes. It was by no means plain sailing for England, who rode their luck at times and were fortunate to see a player of Robert Lewandowski's quality miss two really good chances, but they were the better side tonight. They created numerous chances of their own and, on another day, could have ended the match with five or six goals to their name. For a while it looked as if history would repeat itself as England peppered the Polish goal with shots without finding a breakthrough, but eventually they scored and went on to record a thoroughly deserved victory.
England's performance
Much like against Montenegro, a poor performance and a win would have been tolerated by manager Roy Hodgson on this occasion. What he got, though, was a good display and the three points, which will delight the veteran boss. They looked dangerous going forward and were able to create plenty of chances, especially in the first half. No player was carried by the rest of the team as it was a decent showing from all 14 players who featured, which will please Hodgson almost as much as the result itself. It was by no means the perfect performance as they were caught out a few times on the break, but it was good enough.
Poland's performance
Poland certainly played their part in what was a thrilling match. The first half was incredibly open and the visitors caused England plenty of problems with their fast counter-attack. Lewandowski was not at his most clinical but, if he had been, Poland would have probably come away with a draw from tonight's match. Their display will give the fans hope of a stronger push for the next major tournament, but they were second best tonight and the slight difference in quality between a qualifying nation and one that missed out was clear to see.
Sports Mole's man of the match
Wayne Rooney: So often Rooney is the big performer for England in the big games, and that was the case again tonight. No one player dominated for England, but Rooney certainly caused the Poland defence more problems than anyone else. He tested Szczesny on a number of occasions as well as scoring the crucial opening goal with a well-taken header. He has now scored more World Cup goals - if you include qualifiers - than any other England player in history, and you wouldn't bet against him going on to break more national records in the future. He will certainly have Sir Bobby Charlton's all-time scoring record in his sights as he now trails that by just 11 goals.
Biggest gaffe
Lewandowski missed a couple of good chances for his side, but the worst miss of the day goes to Danny Welbeck. The ball fell to the United man a few yards from goal after Poland had failed to clear a corner, but he dragged his shot well wide having swung his leg wildly at it. It didn't prove to be a costly miss for England but, with the match still goalless at the time, it could have been important.
Referee performance
Slovenia's Damir Skomina coped well with what was a hostile atmosphere at times given the amount of away fans inside Wembley. He didn't get carried away with the moment although, to be honest, he didn't have many big decisions to make. There were a couple of half-shouts for penalties, but he got every one of them right. All in all a good performance from the officials.
What next?
England: Next up for England is the wait to see who will join them in the World Cup pot from the playoffs before the groups for next summer's tournament are drawn.
Poland: Poland, meanwhile, will now turn their attention to the 2016 European Championships qualifying draw as they look to end their absence from major tournaments.
Barney Corkhill
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