Victory over Norway was all that mattered for Rooney

Wayne Rooney admitted England’s performance “could have been better” but insisted victory was all that mattered as his side beat Norway at Wembley.

Roy Hodgson’s men had the better of the first half and Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling looked lively in the opening exchanges.

But with the teams all square at half-time, England failed to take advantage of their superior possession until midway through the second period. 

Sterling broke into the box and was brought down by Omar Elabdellaoui before Rooney rammed home his 41st England goal from the spot.

However, the Manchester United and Three Lions skipper conceded his team will have to perform better in their opening Euro 2016 qualifying match against Switzerland in Basel.

Rooney said: “This being the first game after the World Cup it was important we got the victory – especially going into the game on Monday. 

“But the performance could have been better. I thought we moved the ball around quite well in the first half. They made it difficult for us and sat back and we created a few opportunities in the first half. 

“We started the second half fairly sloppily and that was disappointing because we wanted to go out and take the game to them but we got the win in the end. 

“But there are a lot of young players in this team who are learning and the big thing tonight was the victory.”

Rooney is now just nine goals away from overtaking Sir Bobby Charlton as England’s all-time leading goalscorer.

And the United star revealed he had no concerns about stepping up to the spot to take the match-winning penalty.

He added: “You always get nervous taking a penalty but I was always confident I was going to score. 

“I knew which corner I’d go for – even before the game – had we got a penalty. I put my boot through it and thankfully it went in.”