England revived their Euro 2004 campaign and lifted the pressure on manager Sven-Goran Eriksson in impressive fashion with a 2-0 victory over World Cup semi-finalists Turkey at the Stadium of Light this evening.
Darius Vassell's 76th-minute strike and an injury time penalty from David Beckham capped a superb all round performance by Eriksson's men in a full-blooded encounter.
The win lifts England above the Turks to the top of group seven and leaves them in pole position to clinch the automatic qualifying place for next year's finals in Portugal, although they still have difficult trips to both Macedonia and Turkey to come.
After a scrappy win in Slovakia, an embarassing home draw with Macedonia and an unconvincing 2-0 victory over group minnows Liechtenstein in their previous matches, Eriksson had started the day with serious doubts hanging over his future as England's first foreign coach.
But his decision to restore the calming influence of Nicky Butt to the midfield and his gamble in starting Wayne Rooney alongside Michael Owen in attack paid off.
Everton's 17-year-old forward did not get on the scoresheet but he tormented Turkey's hugely experienced central defenders all night with his touch and the youthful audacity of both his running and passing.
Having been accused of a failure to demonstrate sufficient passion in their previous group seven matches, England seemed determined to give an early demonstration of their commitment not to lose the battle of wills.
Beckham in particular started at a furious tempo and it only took nine minutes for him to pick up a deserved yellow card for dissent after a series of clattering tackles had escaped without any caution.
England's captain, who had scored in all three previous qualifiers, should have made it four out of four in the 12th minute after Turkey goalkeeper Rustu Recber, under pressure from Michael Owen, dropped Steven Gerrard's high, hooked cross from the left.
Rooney got first bite at the cherry but his side-footed effort came back off Ergun Penbe into the path of Beckham, who somehow contrived to pull across the goal from barely eight yards out.
Ilhan Mansiz provided Turkey's first real hint of menace, firing over after been fed on the right of the box by his striking partner Nihat Kahveci.
Gradually, Turkey's gifted midfield quartet began to take a grip on the match.
But with the exception of an exhilarating run and shot from Yildiray Basturk that drew a fine save from David James, England's goal was rarely under siege and the home side might easily have capitalised on two illustrations of Rooney's talent in the minutes before the break.
Twice he picked the ball up in the centre circle and proceeded to carve out openings by sharply contrasting routes.Route one was a precise crossfield pass into the path of Gerrard, whose cross was met with a clean-air shot by Owen.Route two was straight through the middle, Rooney skipping past Tugay then Emre as if they were not there before slipping the ball to Owen, who was denied by Rustu diving at his feet.The Turkish goalkeeper was relieved to see a Beckham free-kick fly into the side netting four minutes after the break and a Gerrard header flash wide of his post.But there was nothing fortunate about the saves he produced to keep out, in quick succession, a Paul Scholes drive from the edge of the area, a close-range effort from Vassell and another Beckham free-kick all being superbly turned away by the Turkish goalkeeper.Vassell had been introduced after Owen was forced off injured and his pace quickly began to create problems for the Turkish defence. A minute before England went ahead he had cut inside Bulent Korkmaz and drawn yet another good save from Rustu.Then just as it looked as if England were set to suffer a night of frustration, Bridge's cross caught the Turkish defence square and left Ferdinand in the clear. Rustu managed to stop the first shot but with the ball falling kindly for Vassell there was nothing he could do about the second.At the other end, James had been enjoying a peaceful night but the West Ham keeper was there when needed, brilliantly touching over Nihat Kahveci's header nine minutes from the end to deny Turkey their first ever goal against England.That proved to be the last gasp from the Turks but there was still time for Beckham to make it four goals in four matches in the group with a finely struck penalty after he had been brought down by Ergun Penbe.