England returned to winning ways after coming from a goal down to defeat Hungary 2-1 in a friendly at Wembley.

The hosts fell a goal down through a Phil Jagielka own-goal in the second-half, but a one-man show from Steven Gerrard spared England’s blushes as a quickfire brace from the stand-in captain secured the win.

Capello’s side were far from their best and the performance was not one the public will appreciate following their dismal display in this summer’s World Cup in South Africa.

Jagielka went close at the right end early on but his volley from a Steven Gerrard corner sailed over the bar, but Hungary were well and truly rattled. Moments later, Rooney had the ball in the net only to see the flag correctly raised for offside.

England had a great deal of urgency about them early on as they looked to banish the ghosts of South Africa with immediate effect and they continued to dominate possession in the opening ten minutes.

In the 13th minute Adam Johnson should have handed the home side the lead after great work from Theo Walcott. The Arsenal winger picked up a pass from Glenn Johnson before skipping by a challenge and pulling back for the Manchester City winger, who skied his shot well over the crossbar.

Walcott continued to impress down the right flank but lack of movement in the penalty area, with Rooney operating in a lonely role up front on his own, meant the winger’s good work went begging.

On 29 minutes Gerrard raced onto a through ball from Frank Lampard on a rare England counterattack. However, Gabor Kiraly in the Hungarian goal read the danger and was quicker to the ball as he booted the ball into touch.

By that stage, though, Hungary had grown in confidence and tested Joe Hart with a couple of tame efforts from outside the box. England remained on top, however.

Gerrard tested Kiarly again in the 33rd minute with a whipped freekick from a tight angle, which the former Crystal Palace keeper tipped over the bar. From Adam Johnson’s resulting corner, the 34-year-old confidently claimed.

The half petered out with the hosts in control of the ball but far from impressive with it. The half-time whistle was met with predictable and, arguably, justified boos from all corners of the Wembley Stadium.

Walcott, who did not make Fabio Capello’s squad for South Africa, was the half’s shining light, making five successful dribbles past the Hungarian defence, more than any England player in the World Cup.

Second Half

Capello made four changes at the break, with Frank Lampard, John Terry, Ashley Cole and, rather inexplicably, Walcott making way. They were replaced by Michael Dawson, Ashley Young, Kieran Gibbs and Bobby Zamora, the latter two making their international debuts.

The second half began in much the same fashion as the first ended, with little urgency about either side for the opening fifteen minutes.

However, the game sprung into life out of nowhere as the unfancied Hungarians took a surprise lead in the 62nd minute. Michael Dawson failed to cut out a through ball and Fulham forward Zolton Gera fed the ball wide before a compatriot squared the ball across the face of goal and Phil Jagielka diverted into his own net.

The linesman awarded the goal, despite replays suggesting the ball never crossed the line as Dawson looked to have made amends by clearing the goal bound ball off the line with a last ditch tackle.

The goal stood and boo once again rung around Wembley. The home fans were not gloom for long though as England were behind for only seven minutes.

The inspiration stand-in captain Gerrard burst forward with venom in the 69th minute and a kind bobble allowed him to thump an effort into the top right-hand corner from just outside the penalty area. Wembley gasped a sign of relief.

And they had to wait just three minutes for the turnaround to be complete and it was that man Gerrard again who provided another divine solo effort to hand his country the lead for the first time.

Gerrard collected the ball inside the area with his back to goal before turning, skipping past two despairing Hungary defender and dinking the ball inside the post and past the onrushing Kiraly. Gerrard celebrated with passion but Capello showed not an ounce of emotion on the bench. He knows he remains under pressure, particularly as Martin O’Neill is now unemployed.

The goals handed England confidence for the first time in the match and Zamora went close to a debut goal as he drilled a fierce effort over the ball shortly after. Capello’s side were in control and saw no need to take risks in the closing stages of the game as they looked to quit while they were ahead by retaining possession with care.

Jack Wilshire made a late cameo appearance for his international debut, replacing man of the match Gerrard, who received a round of applause for his match-winning second-half show.

Hungary provided a late scare in the form of Gera in the 89th minute as he was sent through on goal but, from a difficult angle, he could only shoot straight at Hart in England’s goal and you sensed the home side would hang on.

And that they did. There were no boos at full-time as England came away with the win, but Capello will know he faces scrutiny from the press for the performance in the aftermath, if not the fans inside the stadium.

Former England player and current legend, Chris Waddle, has said that Theo Walcott does not understand the game enough at international level.

Waddle is speaking ahead of the World Cup this summer and there is still a big chance for someone in the side to step in and make the right and left wing positions their own.

Waddle was an England regular who played in some of the toughest club and country competitions in the world. He will know better than most the qualities needed to read the game at the highest level.

He said: “People keep saying he’s young but Wayne Rooney understood the game at 16, 17. I’ve never seen any difference in Walcott since he was at Southampton and broke into the team at a very young age.”

“I’ve never seen him develop. He just doesn’t understand the game for me – where to be running, when to run inside a full back, when to just play a one-two. It’s all off the cuff. I just don’t think he’s got a football brain and he’s going to have problems. Let’s be honest, good defenders would catch him offside every time. I just don’t know whether he studies the game, learns the game, or what. He’s at a great club where they play fantastic football week-in, week-out, and I’m just surprised he’s never developed his game.”

“I’m surprised Walcott was in the squad. He doesn’t play a lot of football, he hasn’t done anything. he hasn’t done anything for a long time and I think Croatia was a one-off. I just think he’s got a lot to learn. I’ve been more impressed by Adam Johnson at Manchester City than Theo Walcott.”

Waddle’s comments about Johnson at Manchester City will be echoed by many people within the current football community. It is a little strange how a player who was set to join Real Madrid at one point cannot be good enough to play for his own country.

Walcott is a decent player but the point is he still has a lot to prove on the international stage. Johnson needs a chance and he could be a fresher and surprising choice for England’s World Cup squad this summer.

It is a nice problem for Fabio Capello to have and the boss will be hoping that competition for places continues to stay fierce. The one thing he will not want to happen is a spurt of injuries, which threaten to dent the spine of the side.

You cannot be a bad player if you can score an away hat trick in international football. Walcott needs to work hard and remember that he has a top line manager in Arsene Wenger to go to advice for at Arsenal.

It’s difficult to call all of the midfield positions for England’s squad, which will go to South Africa in June. Walcott and Johnson may well end up both going. Watch this space over the coming months.

England Under-21s have secured their place in the semi-finals of the European Under-21 Championships with a 2-0 win over Spain Under-21s.

With Germany having earlier moved top of the group after beating Finland 2-0, manager Stuart Pearce knew his side would regain control with victory over the Spanish.

After a relatively low-key first half, which saw James Milner miss a penalty, Pearce’s men came back out and goals from substitute Fraizer Campbell and Milner saw off their opposition, who now look like joining Finland on the road home.

Campbell, a first-half replacement for the injured Gabriel Agbonlahor, capitalised on some woeful Spanish defending as Mario Suarez’s misplaced pass sent the Manchester United forward through on goal.

He still had work to do, however, as he cut inside Javi Garcia onto his left foot before drilling an unstoppable shot into the bottom corner past the heroic Spanish keeper Andres Sergio Asenjo.

The introduction of Theo Walcott, who was surprisingly left on the bench, galvanised the English youngsters and he was instrumental in Milner’s strike which effectively wrapped up the points.

Walcott used his electric pace to beat the Spanish defence down the left flank before squaring for Milner, who made amends for his earlier miss, as he thumped the ball past Asenjo.

It was just the response Pearce wanted from Walcott, and Franco Baldini, who was scheduled to attend, will probably send a glowing report back to England boss Fabio Capello.

Pearce will be praised as well because his youngsters are now in the semi-finals, with a Group B match against Germany to spare.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger, who was strongly opposed to his youngster travelling to Sweden after representing the seniors against Kazakhstan and Andorra, cannot complain either as Walcott has only played 75 minutes in the tournament so far.

Pearce battled to keep Walcott in his squad, dismissing fears of burn-out ahead of next year’s World Cup, but then responded by removing the highest-profile player of the tournament after a quiet 45 minutes against Finland.

“Reputations and being well-known count for nothing,” Pearce said on the eve of the finals, and he kept his word by replacing Walcott with Middlesbrough winger Adam Johnson against Spain.

Pearce’s attitude is that players may have to “fall on their sword” for the good of the team, so Walcott started on the bench and Mark Noble retained the captaincy despite the return of Nedum Onuoha from a thigh complaint to replace suspended Michael Mancienne.

As he admits himself, Pearce is still learning as a manager and his decision not to train at the ground almost cost his youngsters an early goal.

Onuoha over hit a backpass, misjudging the pace of the turf, with Joe Hart racing back and clearing on the line. Even then, it required England to hack away as the Spaniards closed in.

Hart also sent a clearance along the floor straight to Javi Martinez, a possible Manchester City target, but the Spain midfielder could not direct his finish. Milner’s crosses appeared England’s most likely route to goal.

The Aston Villa midfielder put one on Agbonlahor’s head which got deflected over, then from the corner Onuoha and Martin Cranie had close-range efforts blocked.

Milner earned and took England‘s penalty just after the half-hour mark. Spain lost possession in their own half and Johnson fed through Milner, who twisted his way past Javi Garcia before getting brought down.

It was a well-struck penalty but Sergio Asenjo was down sharply to his right to palm away.

Worse was to follow for England as Agbonlahor had to be taken off six minutes before the break but it was Campbell, not Walcott, who came on.

Hart had a rush of blood to the head 10 minutes after the restart, racing out to meet Martinez even though there was little danger.

The Spain midfielder rolled the ball towards goal and Cranie was needed to clear off the goal line.

There were jeers when Barcelona’s Bojan Krkic was taken off for Diego Capel just before the hour mark, with two of the biggest stars of the tournament on the bench at that stage.

That lasted until the 62nd minute, when Walcott was introduced for Johnson.

Five minutes later, England were ahead.

Milner won the ball in Spain territory and poked the ball through for Campbell, who cut inside Garcia before planting his finish in the bottom corner.

Smoke then came out of the stand at the end Campbell scored in, but the situation appeared to be in control.

Pearce danced down the touchline when Walcott set up the second goal, racing behind the Spain defence by outpacing Garcia, then cutting the ball back for Milner to smash home.

The only sour point was Milner’s late booking, which rules him out of the Germany game although it did appear as though the Villa man knew what he was doing.

Pearce has defended his decision to leave Theo Walcott on the bench in the wake of the winger’s second half demolition of Spain Under-21s.

Walcott’s introduction in the second half of the Group B clash prompted an explosion of life into the team as England opened the scoring just five minutes after he replaced Adam Johnson.

“I felt with the game going to be being stretched in the second half he’d have an impact – he proved me right,” Pearce said after the game.

“But then I know Theo and I know what he’s capable of and little Adam Johnson had done nothing wrong for me.

“He took the sting out of the Spaniards to start with and enabled Theo to come on and put on the virtuoso show that he did.

“I must mention at this stage Theo Walcott’s attitude.

“We spoke before the game about how he answers not being in the starting line up. You know, it’s difficult for him to understand how he’s played for the seniors and then he didn’t start here.

“The only way you answer a managerial team selection is to put in a performance of both attacking and defending that he did and credit to him, but I expected no less from him.”