Joe Cole's first goal for England earned Sven-Goran Eriksson's men a laboured 2-1 victory over Serbia and Montenegro in their friendly at the Walkers Stadium on Tuesday.

Steven Gerrard fired home after 35 minutes, Nenad Jestrovic levelled for the visitors in first-half stoppage time but substitute Cole snatched victory with a superb free-kick in the 82nd minute.

Yet the match, a warm-up for this month's Euro 2004 qualifying action for both teams, was predictably short on excitement while wholesale changes in the second half deprived it of any real rhythm.

Both sides were looking to avoid injuries with Group Seven leaders England hosting Slovakia on June 11, while Serbia and Montenegro are in Finland on Saturday and away to Azerbaijan on Wednesday week in Group Nine.

The training ground intensity of the opening half hour, in which neither side had carved out a scoring chance, was finally ended when Gerrard set off on a driving run.

SLACK DEFENDING

The midfielder fed the ball wide left to captain Michael Owen and then steered home a first-time shot from his Liverpool team mate's return pass.

England looked in control but paid the price for some slack defending when Zvonimir Vukic whipped in a corner and Jestrovic thumped in a header. Ashley Cole attempted a goal-line clearance, the ball clearly crossing the line, but Jestrovic lashed it in just to make sure.

Eriksson made five changes at halftime, bringing on 17-year-old Wayne Rooney -- though surprisingly at the expense of Michael Owen rather than crowd favourite and former Leicester City striker Emile Heskey.

Fifteen minutes later, Eriksson add three more new faces as John Terry followed fellow defender Matthew Upson's lead with an England debut, the visitors making similar wholesale changes.

As in previous friendly experiments, the substitutions took out what little momentum had been built in the first half.

Rooney injected some spark, curling in a shot from 20 metres, while a drive from Cole was fisted out by substitute keeper Dragan Zilic after 75 minutes.

The 21-year-old West Ham United midfielder went one better, though, with his free-kick, giving Zilic no chance as the ball swerved around the wall in his ninth England appearance.

Eriksson pronounced himself happy with the result and the performance.

"It looks good for our match next week," he told Sky Sports TV. "Our defence was very, very good and I appreciate that very much.

"Joe Cole scored a nice goal and it's nice to see the youngsters like Cole, Rooney and Jenas coming on.

"They can play football and it's good for the future for England."

"One of the reasons I took out Gareth Southgate, Ashley Cole Scholes, Owen and Gerrard was that I don't want them injured. I want them very, very fresh.

"The players still look hungry after a long season and the mixture between rest and work is important. But we'll see next week against Slovakia."

There was more encouraging news for England with the good behaviour of their fans, who generally heeded written and recorded calls from the FA, Eriksson and absent skipper David Beckham to respect the visitors' anthem and refrain from the pitch invasions and racist chants.

Such incidents marred England's 2-0 qualifying win over Turkey in Sunderland in April, prompting a UEFA fine and a warning last week that a place at Euro 2004 could be at risk.