England 2
Trinidad & Tobago 0

England had to endure 83 minutes of frustration against Trinidad & Tobago before Peter Crouch and then Steven Gerrard powered them into the World Cup second round with a hard-earned 2-0 Group B win yesterday.

Captain David Beckham floated a perfect ball from the right to the far post where Crouch headed the first powerfully into the net.

With a minute remaining Gerrard made sure with a left-foot drive from the edge of the box.

The three points followed a scrappy 1-0 win over Paraguay on Saturday and ensures England will finish first or second, depending on their final match with Sweden on Tuesday.

Until their late charge in the last seven minutes, England had looked likely to follow in the path of the Swedes who had proved unable to break down the Caribbean outsiders.

England were boosted by the long-awaited return of Wayne Rooney from a broken foot.

His 58th minute arrival, met with loud cheers by England's fans, came hours after two medical experts had pronounced him to fit to play after a faster than expected recovery from a broken foot.

England looked sharper with Rooney and fellow substitute Aaron Lennon on the pitch, but their finishing remained poor and the well organised Soca Warriors defended in numbers attempting to get a draw.

Striker Michael Owen, who lasted only 55 minutes against Paraguay and is far from his best after long-term injury, ballooned an early chance when Frank Lampard's shot was only parried by Shaka Hislop.

England, looking much better than on Saturday, kept stringing their passes together but could only create half-chances against some determined defending.

Crouch nearly tipped the ball past Hislop at the far post after a Joe Cole cross. Beckham aimed a series of corners at John Terry to no avail and the Warriors' defence also charged down his free-kicks.

England squandered two great chances before the break, though, when Lampard skied an Owen cut back from close range and Crouch fluffed a volley from Beckham's inviting cross, his shot heading towards the corner flag.

England fans were still chanting for Rooney to come on when Terry spared his team's blushes just before the break by clearing off the line after an aerial duel between Rio Ferdinand and Stern John.

Aftermatch comments

David Beckham said England's late goals sounded a warning about the strong character of his team.

"We never give up. That is the message we always give out," Beckham said. "We knew it wasn't going to be easy today, people expected it to be easy but we knew if we kept at our game plan we would break them down.

"The good thing about the game is that we finished strongly."

Beckham praised coach Sven-Goran Eriksson's decision to bring on fit-again striker Wayne Rooney and wingers Aaron Lennon and Stewart Downing in the second half.

"The manager made good substitutions," said the Real Madrid midfielder. "It was very positive and we pressed forward from that.

"It would be fair to say you've not seen the best of us yet. We know we can get better and we just have to prove it."

Trinidad coach Leo Beenhakker said he had tried to stifle England's attacking plans.

"We knew we could organise our game to survive for a long period," he said. "We had some small chances, yes, but that is football.

"We can live with it. It (defeat) always hurts. England hit long balls at the beginning and we did a very good job defending. But they have fantastic players and I wish them all the best."

Trinidad captain Dwight Yorke was seen chatting and laughing with his former Manchester United team-mate Beckham as the two teams waited to go on the field.

Asked what the two players had spoken about, Yorke said: "We have great memories from our three-and-a-half, four years together (at United).

"He has become a great friend over the years and who would have thought we would meet in a World Cup playing against each other.

"We talked about the number of funny stories that connect us."

England: 1-Robinson; 15-Carragher (19-Lennon 58), 5-Ferdinand, 6-Terry, 3-A. Cole; 7-Beckham, 8-Lampard, 4-Gerrard, 11-J. Cole (20-Downing 75); 10-Owen (9-Rooney 58), 21-Crouch.

Trinidad: 1-Hislop; 6-Lawrence, 5-Sancho, 8-Gray, 11-Edwards; 9-Whitley, 7-Birchall, 18-Theobald (16-Wise 85), 15-Jones (13-Glen 70); 14-S. John, 19-Yorke.

Referee: Toru Kamikawa (Japan).

Scorers: Crouch 83, Gerrard 90.

Half-time: 0-0. Attendance: 41,000.