Gary Neville was understandably delighted with his first England goal after his atrocious miss against Macedonia.

The Manchester United defender saw his effort fool ‘keeper Paul Robinson and pointed out his observation of the pitch as the key to success.

"I saw that there was a divot there and I’ve practised this move with Cristiano Ronaldo loads. I thought if I just play it nicely back to Robbo then he’ll miss it and I’ll have that goal", said Neville smiling with glee.

After another poor performance, Steve McClaren took solace in the fact that England managed to hit the target. McClaren also expressed his delight at Neville’s strike. "It was a clever piece of play from Gary, top class finishing. Obviously I had talked the lads through the new 3-5-2 but didn’t really mention which goal to attack. Gary is one of the more intelligent lads in the side and that really showed tonight".

With Neville taking all the plaudits, Paul Robinson thought he could have done better but conceded he was beaten by a special strike. "It was a top strike. It was there one moment and suddenly it was in the net. The power on the strike was just too much, I had no chance".

Neville was greeted by ecstatic Croatian fans on his exit from the stadium and the entire England side was delayed as autograph hunters fought to seal the United man’s signature. It has also been reported that Neville has replaced his best mate David Beckham as the new pin up of football in Croatia.

Amazing what one goal can do.

By James Masters