Cole pleased with performance

Cole came on for a disappointing Rooney in the second half as England beat Slovenia 1-0 to reach the knockout stages of the World Cup.

Cole told Sky Sports News: “(It was) fantastic – nice to get on and do my bit and hopefully push on from there but the main thing is that the team, we’ve done well today, from the first minute to the last minute and we’ve fought, it’s great.”

He added: “You have ups and downs in football but I think what was great today, we had a slightly narrower midfield which managed to press a bit better, good movement from the frontman.

“I personally think the last two games weren’t terrible – we limited USA and Algeria, we defended well – but today we got that attacking impetus in our team and we looked a real good team, we should have won it by three or four.”