Beckham shines as England hold their nerve

England 2 Azerbaijan 0

David Beckham inspired England to a routine victory against lowly Azerbaijan tonight.

But England never came that close to the goal-fest that some had predicted.

Chances were aplenty at St James’ Park, with Wayne Rooney denied on several occasions, but only Beckham and Steven Gerrard found the back of the net.

For Beckham, however, it was a timely answer to his growing band of critics after another lacklustre display against Northern Ireland last weekend.

Following an impassioned defence by Sven-Goran Eriksson, the Real Madrid midfielder lived up to his billing as he struck his 16th goal for his country on his 80th appearance.

Most of England’s threat was created by the England captain, who left the pitch to a standing ovation, although Rooney was also highly influential in the second half before being substituted.

The end product was nevertheless not quite there as Michael Owen failed to set any records and also earned a second booking of the campaign, ruling himself out of the next qualifier in Wales.

It took 51 minutes before Gerrard put England ahead and, with the players booed off at half-time, the crowd were clearly tiring of ’keeper Dmitri Kramarenko’s supremacy.

Beckham’s strike made certain of the three points and, for all the question marks that remain over this England side, they have still gained the required six points from back-to-back qualifiers.

Outscoring Poland, who beat Azerbaijan 8-0 four days earlier but only scored once against Northern Ireland, was always unrealistic.

After all, it was no surprise to see the proverbial bus, comprising five defenders and two holding midfielders, parked in front of the Azerbaijan net from the outset.

Not that the visitors’ defence was exactly watertight, with Beckham creating most of the danger from the right touchline.

However, although England created a plethora of first-half chances, they contrived to miss all of them.

One of Beckham’s crosses was headed over by Rooney, another was directed at the ’keeper by Owen, while Frank Lampard also squandered two openings.

In a worrying echo of San Marino’s shock goal against England, Azerbaijan striker Gurban Gurbanov came within inches of giving the visitors the lead after a rare slip by John Terry.

England, with Joe Cole continuing his progression without ever impressing as much as against Northern Ireland, dominated thereafter without ever quite convincing.

Owen’s header struck Kramarenko from close range and rebounded off Beckham onto the post, while Lampard thundered a shot into the side-netting.

Rooney strode through but Kramarenko was out to smother, while Owen claimed a penalty which never came.

Fortune was clearly not favouring England and Beckham was even bizarrely booked for re-entering the pitch without permission, while still putting his boot on.

The England captain was still complaining to the officials at the interval, by which time he had also been flagged offside before crossing for Owen to convert.

England’s finishing problems looked set to continue after the restart as Owen’s shot was deflected over the bar, but they finally made the breakthrough on 51 minutes.

Rooney provided the impetus, with a charging run and having ridden a tackle rather than going down in search of a penalty, he cut the ball back towards Gerrard.

The Liverpool midfielder still needed to expertly control his half-volley as the ball bounced high, but he shot into the ground and past Kramarenko into the roof of the net.

Rooney’s next charging run from a deeper role almost set up Owen, but the striker handled the ball in his desperation to reach the cross and received his second booking of the qualifying campaign.

Beckham’s appeals for a penalty then went unheard but he was not to be denied. Lampard’s deep ball saw the England captain just evade the offside trap before controlling the ball on his chest.

One neat touch set him up to take aim and he picked his spot inside the left-hand upright before wheeling away in pointed celebration.

Beckham’s free-kick also induced a superb volley by Rooney and an equally instinctive save from Kramarenko before the striker hit the post with his next effort.

However, with Rooney shaking his head in disbelief, England were guilty of relaxing on their lead.

It took an excellent save by Paul Robinson to deny Nadir Nabiyev as he burst clean through and Rio Ferdinand was substituted with an apparent strain soon afterwards.

He was replaced by Ledley King, while Kieron Dyer came on for Rooney, this time to applause rather than the boos which greeted him back in August.

Beckham was also warmly applauded as he left the pitch shortly after directing a free-kick narrowly wide.