If Sven-Goran Eriksson needed any convincing that he was right to plunge Wayne Rooney into his full England debut, it came from another inspiring display which put Everton to within touching distance of the Champions League. The England coach witnessed Rooney's fifth goal in the Premiership and the crucial run and pass that created the penalty for Everton to virtually end Newcastle's title hopes with a 2-1 Goodison Park victory on Sunday.
Everton boss David Moyes knows Rooney inspired England to their win over Turkey and engineered the result, which saw Everton leapfrog Liverpool in the table. But Moyes was more pleased with the fact that Rooney scored a workmanlike goal rather than one of his 25-yard specials.
Moyes said: "We keep saying to him, that he can't always score great goals, he has to score some tap-ins as well. To be fair to the boy, he's listened and he's learned very quickly and he got himself in a good position for his header."
Filed by Shane Murray
