McClaren draws comfort

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England are now just a point behind Russia and three behind Croatia and Israel in Group E - although the latter have played an extra game.

McClaren said: "Whatever happened, we didn't want a Russia win."

He added: "We need to be close to people as we have Russia to play home and away, we have Israel at home, we have Croatia to play at home. We are in contention now for the run-in and it's up to us."

He also rejected the suggestion that if England win in Moscow on October 17 they are home and dry. "No, we have still got a long way to go," he said.

McClaren admitted he felt a sense of frustration that England cannot now immediately build on the good work of the last two matches, but insisted the criticism had not got him down.

He added: "I haven't been low, but now we have a break and you want the next game to come. After adversity and criticism you want to get back on - it's not being low, it's a frustration.

"It was a big hangover from the World Cup and many big teams have experienced that, and we had to get over that.

"We have been hit a lot by injuries, we haven't had a goalscorer, and we have come under severe criticism and possibly, at times, rightly so.

"We have not turned the corner but we are in a far better position now than we were two months ago. Now we need five performances like we have had against Estonia and Brazil."