Lennon admits to England pressure

When he got Fabio Capello's men off to a flying start at Wembley the 22-year-old appeared to move to the front of the queue for the right-flank position but he knows Theo Walcott will return from injury and David Beckham is established back in the squad.

"Of course, that comes with being at international level and playing with the best players," the Tottenham winger said. "There are so many quality players within the squad and so many not even here. When you have your chance you have to take it."

He added: "Shauny Wright has played great recently so just to get the nod was brilliant for me."

Spurs boss Harry Redknapp can take plenty of credit for getting the best out of Lennon, who always had ferocious pace but was tactically raw.

Redknapp got the former Leeds player to confuse full-backs early on in games - he would run behind them and on to through-balls at first, then come deep to collect the ball and dribble. The result was defenders being caught in two minds whether to get tight.

"I've been trying to mix my game up. It is down to experience and looking at how defenders have been trying to mark me out of a game," he said.

"I've been mixing everything - trying different types of crosses, cutting inside and shooting with my left, going outside. Just mixing it up."

Lennon has played in four Barclays Premier League wins in a row for Spurs - and is now celebrating his greatest moment so far for England.

"I started well this season with my club form so I just wanted to continue that in the national team," he said. "Luckily for me I did that. It was probably my best performance for England. And the performance from the team was up there. There was a lot of talk before the game but we kept focused and did it on the pitch."