Gary Cahill said he had to pinch himself after leading England out for the first time as they beat Estonia 2-0 at Wembley.
The Chelsea defender was standing in for the injured Wayne Rooney and helped his side to another clean sheet and another victory as they maintained their 100 per cent record on the road to France.
And while Cahill was proud to wear the armband, he insisted the main objective was to secure the three points.
England 2-0 Estonia
UEFA Euro 2016
Group E Qualifier
Friday 9 October 2015
Wembley Stadium connected by EE
"I said earlier in the week that it was one of the proudest moments for me and my family," Cahill told FATV after the game.
"I really wanted it to go well. I'll never forget the moment, of course, but I wanted it to go well.
"I wanted to win, I wanted to play well. It was a very special moment that I'll never forget.
"You sort of have to pinch yourself. It's a huge thing and I'm very honoured to do that today and something that will live with me forever."
He continued: "Most importantly [it was] a win, a clean sheet and we carry that run on, so obviously we're very pleased with the result.
Gary Cahill spoke to FATV after captaining England against Estonia
"[The manager] thought it was a good performance. We dominated possession and had to be patient, especially in the first half. But it was the same when we played them away from home.
"Once you delay the attack and they get back in it's very difficult to break them down. We still created chances and kept plugging away, which is encouraging, and we kept pushing for the important goal.
"In the first half they were dangerous on counter-attacks, so although it looked like we had a lot of possession in the final third, they were dangerous on counter-attacks and the manager made us aware of that at half-time."
The game was won thanks to goals in either half.
First, Theo Walcott broke the deadlock after collecting a slide-rule pass from man of the match Ross Barkley before slotting past goalkeeper Mihkel Aksalu.
Then with five minutes remaining Raheem Sterling wrapped up the victory, turning home Jamie Vardy's cross.
England celebrate Walcott's opener
"[Theo]'s banging goals in. It was a very nice finish and a great ball from Ross who was superb tonight," he said.
"To get the second goal put the game to bed.
"[Jamie Vardy] is very, very fast and he's been in top form as well, scoring goals for Leicester.
"I think the defender slipped and he capitalised on that, broke through and showed great awareness to put the ball across for Raheem.
"I thought Raheem was another player today who never stopped. He had a great game."
Raheem Sterling and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain celebrate
Hodgson confirmed at full-time that Cahill will be one of five members of the squad, along with Joe Hart, James Milner, Michael Carrick and Rooney, who will be rested for the trip to Lithuania on Monday and will not travel.
But the former Aston Villa and Bolton Wanderers man is eager to see the team complete a perfect qualification campaign.
"It's the last game in the qualifying group for us and we want to finish the job the way we have been playing, with the results we've been getting since we come out of a disappointing World Cup.
"We've got one more to go, so I'm sure they will go there and put on a great performance.
"Unfortunately I'm not going to be there, but I'll be willing the lads on."
