Eriksson's relief at victory

Owen acknowledged the Albanians were no pushovers

England manager Sven Goran Eriksson admitted he was relieved after England came through 2-0 against Albania at St James' Park.

Liverpool strikers Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler supplied the goals that propelled England to the top of Group Nine - and one step closer to the World Cup finals in Korea and Japan next year.

But the home side were made to work hard by an Albanian side eager to gatecrash England's party after the extraordinary 5-1 victory in Germany on Saturday.

"We suffered in the second half, they played better than we did," said the Swede.

This was equally as hard as the Germany game

Michael Owen

"We played good football in the first half, with a little bit more luck we could have been two or three goals up.

"But we lost lots of energy without scoring goals. A game like Saturday's costs a lot physically and mentally.

"I think we were tired in the legs and head.

"But I'm looking forward to the next game against Greece. I just hope we have almost all the players fit."

His words were echoed by captain David Beckham, who admitted it was not one of England's best performances.

"I think we made it a little hard for ourselves" the Manchester United midfielder said.

"If we did not win here, it would have been a wasted game on Saturday."

Beckham was England's man-of-the-match

Beckham insisted England had properly prepared for the visit of the Albanians after warnings of complacancy.

"We said from the word go that they would come at us and not sit off," he said.

"It was up to us to combat that.

"We said after Germany that we needed two more good wins and we would be there at the World Cup."

Owen followed up his superb hat-trick in Germany with a brilliantly taken goal to open England's account in the first half.

"It's been a great four days - six points out of two games," said the 21-year-old.

"To take six points was what we intended. This was equally as hard as the Germany game.

"It's not often that they've lost by more than one goal so we would have taken 2-0 before the game."

"But we know we can play better than that."