Spurs star shines in soggy Sofia as Berba watches on

Tom Huddlestone and Mark Noble scored the goals in soggy Sofia, with Pearce likening the brutal thunderstorms to the summer floods near his Wiltshire home.

"It was tough conditions and credit goes to the players," said Pearce. "We can play better than that but sometimes when you come to places like this it is about character over performances."

Pearce's side built on Friday's opening Group Three win, in Montenegro, to put themselves in command heading into their block of another four games before the end of November.

"It was two difficult trips to Eastern Europe. The whole squad should be pleased with the eight days we were together," he added.

"They were new to each other and the conditions here were atrocious."

Huddlestone, returning from suspension, opened the scoring in the 25th minute after clipping Noble's cross home first time from around 25 yards.

It was a strike his Tottenham team-mate Dimitar Berbatov, who was watching in the stands, would have been proud of although it skidded through Liverpool goalkeeper Nikolay Mihaylov.

Mihaylov, whose father Borislav is a Reading cult hero, was beaten again seven minutes later when Matt Derbyshire fed Noble, who danced around the goalkeeper and finished for his first Under-21 goal.

"Our aim was to get on the plane with six points out of six," Pearce added. "We knew it would be difficult and the pointer to how well we've done will be dictated by how well the Portuguese and Irish do in these two venues."

The only negative part of the game was a booking for Noble, his second of the trip, which rules him out of the next qualifier.

Pearce will now meet up with the senior squad and go to Wembley for the qualifier against Russia before having a discussion with Steve McClaren about the successful trip to the Balkans.

Pearce also fielded cheeky questions from Bulgarian reporters asking whether he fancies McClaren's job, as well as the changes at Manchester City since his departure.

The former City boss is hoping for a repeat of the weekend when the seniors followed up the under-21s with a victory the following day.

Aside from a late equaliser from Japan in the women's game, it was a pleasing few days for England teams.

"We want every level to be successful," Pearce said. Pearce also feels his squad are starting to gel after losing more than half of his squad from the summer tournament in Holland when he guided them to the semi-finals.

"I wanted six points and players ready to step up to the plate," he said. "I got that as well as the stalwarts from the last campaign. They've got a good spirit about them."