England heading to Brazil as Rooney and Gerrard fire Hodgson's heroes to World Cup after thrilling win over Poland

England will be at the 2014 World Cup after Wayne Rooney headed the first and Steven Gerrard sealed the win against Poland at Wembley last night.

Rooney struck four minutes before half time, nodding in Leighton Baines's left-wing cross.

Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny made a number of superb saves as Wembley became increasingly nervy but Gerrard sealed the victory in the 88th minute after a driving run.

Heading into the lead: Wayne Rooney nods the ball home to give England the lead

MATCH FACTS

England: Hart, Smalling, Cahill, Jagielka, Baines, Gerrard, Carrick (Lampard 71), Townsend (Milner 86), Rooney, Welbeck, Sturridge (Wilshere 82). Subs: Subs: Ruddy, Jones, Gibbs, Milner, Barkley, Defoe, Sterling, Lambert, Forster.

Booked: Lampard, Rooney.

Goals: Rooney 41, Gerrard 88.

Poland: Szczesny, Wojtkowiak, Jedrzejczyk, Glik, Celeban, Blaszczykowski, Mierzejewski (Zielinski 75), Krychowiak, Sobota (Pezsko 65), M Lewandowski (Klich 46), R Lewandowski. Subs: Boruc, Wasilewski, Jodlowiec, Polanski, Wawrzyniak, Sobiech, Rzezniczak, Fabianski.

Booked: Jedrzejczyk

Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia).

Attendance: 85,186

For all you need to know about the World Cup qualifiers go to our Match Zone

More to follow

Flying: Rooney (centre) wheels away in delight after heading England into the lead

Mob rule: The England players pile on to Rooney after his goal

Kissing the badge: Rooney plants a smacker on his shirt after scoring England's opener

He's lost his headgear: Rooney's protective clothing fell off - and without it on he scored

A superb move and then Rooney headed the ball home... for more see our brilliant Match Zone

At full stretch: Wojciech Szczesny dives desperately to his left but the ball goes wide

Hart stopper: England's goalkeeper makes a crucial save from Robert Lewandowski

Invader: A Polish fan runs on to the Wembley pitch

Using his head: Danny Welbeck tries to get a header on goal

Winning his battle: Chris Smalling comes away with the ball and leaves his opponent on the floor

Rattling the bar: Andros Townsend sees his shot hit the woodwork with Wojciech Szczesny well beaten

Tussle: Leighton Baines keeps tabs on Poland's Piotr Celeban

Intervention: Chris Smalling (left) gets his head to the ball to snuff out a Poland attack

Floored: Danny Welbeck goes down as he tries to take a chance in the Poland area

Agonising: Chris Smalling (on ground, centre) just fails to get a touch and the ball goes wide

Close call: Joe Hart can only watch as Robert Lewandowski (left) steers a shot just wide of the post

Huge support: There were more than 20,000 Poland fans inside Wembley for the game

Flare play: The Polish contingent lit up Wembley before kick-off

Flying the flag: Poland fans show their colours outside Wembly