London  - Captain John Terry struck an 85th-minute winner as England maintained their 100-per-cent record in World Cup qualifying on Wednesday with a 2-1 victory over Ukraine.

Peter Crouch put England ahead after 28 minutes, but with 16 minutes remaining Shevchenko stabbed in the equaliser.

Crouch probably would not have played but for injuries to Emile Heskey and Carlton Cole, but when the chance came, he pounced to score his 15th goal in 33 internationals.

Shevchenko also had a point to prove, having been left out by coach Oleksiy Mykhailychenko, and added his 40th goal for his country with 16 minutes to play.

Anxiety was just gripping Wembley when Terry hooked in the winner.

"I think we deserved it," said Terry. "We were disappointed to concede a goal late on.

"But we showed great character to come back, so there were some real positives.
"There was great fight and great desire from the boys. We're in a great position in the group."

England lead Croatia, who beat Andorra 2-0, by five points, each having played half their qualifying games.

Ukraine, who have a game in hand, are three points further back.

England began cautiously, but steadily came to take control of the game.

Wayne Rooney, as he had been in the 4-0 win over Slovakia on Saturday, was superb, at least for the first hour, influential enough that Oleksiy Mykhailychenko moved Valentyn Slyusar to man-to-man mark him before the end of the first half.

Rooney looped an overhead just over and Steven Gerrard bent a free-kick just wide before the opener came.

John Terry beat Dmytro Chyhrynskyi to Frank Lampard's left-wing corner and headed down for Crouch to pivot and lash the ball past Andriy Pyatov.

David James made a hash of a swerving Tymoshchuk shot, but that aside, Ukraine threatened little before half-time.

Shevchenko was introduced for Andriy Voronin 10 minutes into the second half, and almost immediately he was followed onto the pitch by his Milan team-mate David Beckham, who flipped a free-kick just over after 63 minutes.

England, though, were far less imaginative as an attacking force in the second half, aiming a series of long balls at Crouch.

"In the first half we played a good game," said manager Fabio Capello. "In the second half we suffered a little bit in midfield, and lost a lot of passes."

"Ukraine have just started their league and are very very fresh; in the second half we were a little bit tired."

Rooney was still heavily involved, but his frustration was evident as he followed through rashly into Oleksandr Aliev, and was fortunate to find in Claus Bo Larsen a lenient referee.

Ukraine hadn't really threatened, but neither were England entirely comfortable, and the equaliser arrived after 74 minutes.

Chyhrynskyi got a touch on a right-wing free-kick, and as the ball dropped between defenders, Shevchenko smashed it through James.

Capello reacted by bringing on Shaun Wright-Phillips for Crouch, but it was the earlier substitute, Beckham, who was key to the winner.

He was fouled on the right, and when he slung the free-kick in deep, Gerrard headed back across goal for Terry to knock in. (dpa)