Two second half goals from Stephen Gerrard and captain David Beckham canceled out a first-half of agonisingly close chances to record a 2-0 win over Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan, at the foot of World Cup Qualifying Group Six, survived 45 minutes of England torture to go into the second-half with a glimmer of hope but just 6 minutes after the break Liverpool skipper Stephen Gerrard finally broke the deadlock.

After an 8-0 thumping at the hands of Poland last week, Carlos Alberto's side were looking to bounce back at St James' park against the Group leaders, however, chances of World Cup Qualification looks incredibly slim.

England brewed up a frustrating Newcastle crowd after Chelsea's Frank Lampard and United's Wayne Rooney both hit the woodwork after an earler Azerbaijan scare. John Terry's lapse of concentration allowed Gurbanov to run clear in-front of goal, only to watch his golden attempt brush past the post.

However, England found their opening 6 minutes after the restart as Wayne Rooney used his pace to eventually tee up Stephen Gerrard, who made no mistake striking home.

Skipper David Beckham added another just after the hour mark, latching onto Lampard's ball to double his side's advantage.

Nadir Nabiyev had a late chance, but Paul Robinson made sure he kept another clean sheet. Overall, Sven Goran Eriksson was happy with the performance, stating: : "We could have scored a lot but the important thing is we played good football on Saturday and today [against Northern Ireland]"

He added: "The reason I took Rooney off was so we did not miss two strikers for the next game," he added. Rio Ferdinand was also replaced in the second half as Gary Neville completed 90 minutes.

Final Score: England 2 - 0 Azerbaijan
Att: 49,046

England: Robinson, Gary Neville, Ferdinand (King 77), Terry, Ashley Cole, Beckham (Defoe 84), Gerrard, Lampard, Joe Cole, Rooney (Dyer 77), Owen.
Subs Not Used: Carragher, James, Jenas, Heskey.

Azerbaijan: Kramarenko, Abdurahmanov, Amirbekov (Vugar Guliyev 45), Sadygov, Hadzhiev, Hashymov, Melikov, Bahshiev, Kerimov, Gurban Gurbanov (Ponomarev 76), Nabiev (Ahtyamov 76).
Subs Not Used: Hasanzade, Kamal Guliyev, Abbasov, Ilgar Gurbanov.