AZERBAIJAN'S most famous sportsman is chess legend Gary Kasparov and, last night, England were grateful to second-half strikes from Steven Gerrard and David Beckham that prevented an unwelcome stalemate against the former Soviet state from wrecking their World Cup hopes.

Despite stringing together a succession of attacking moves before the break, Sven-Goran Eriksson's side were unable to break down a spirited Azerbaijani defence that had shipped eight goals to Poland four days earlier.

But, in a second-half surge similar to that produced against Northern Ireland last weekend, England were grateful to their new midfield general and their established grand master for maintaining their one-point lead at the top of Group Six.

Gerrard's 51st-minute strike made amends for a profligate first half in which Michael Owen in particular had wasted a hatful of chances, while Beckham's coolly-taken goal was just reward for a mature display that at last married positional discipline to his usual precise passing.

Eriksson's warnings of a narrow success ultimately came to pass, but the England boss will have been satisfied to see another clean sheet allied to a workmanlike win over an obdurate opposition.

His Azerbaijani counterpart, former Brazilian World Cup winner Carlos Alberto, arrived in the North-East wanting to salvage some pride after Saturday's humiliation at the hands of Poland.

His side certainly achieved that but, while England's display was never as fluent as the sparkling attacking play produced at Old Trafford, some of the interplay between an impressive Beckham, an inspired Wayne Rooney and an incisive Frank Lampard boded well for the future.

In all the furore following last weekend's win over Northern Ireland, the fact that England had initially struggled to break down a visiting defence boasting a numerical, if not a footballing, advantage was largely overlooked.

The same was true last night as, despite carving out a catalogue of early chances, Eriksson's side could not find a way past an inspired Dmitry Kramarenko, a goalkeeper deemed so limited that a national newspaper had promised him a yak to compensate for every goal he conceded.

He could have had a herd in the opening 20 minutes but, with Beckham finding himself in acres of space on the right, a combination of impressive goalkeeping and wayward finishing meant England's strikers were unable to apply the finishing touch to their captain's incisive approach play.

The tone was set in the fourth minute as Lampard fed Beckham on the touchline, only for Rooney to head the skipper's pinpoint cross over the top from no more than eight yards.

In previous games, Beckham has roamed infield in an attempt to influence proceedings but, with the Azeri packing the central area, the Real Madrid midfielder wisely chose to provide some width in an attempt to create an opening.

That decision was vindicated again in the tenth minute - Owen seeing his header parried by Kramarenko after another perfectly-weighted delivery - and, when Lampard fired a first-time volley narrowly wide shortly after, it seemed to be only a matter of time before the deadlock was broken.

The fact that it took 38 more minutes for England to take the lead was down to both poor luck and poor finishing.

Beckham came closest to giving the home side a first-half advantage, although he didn't know much about it, as Owen's tumbling header rebounded against him after being saved by the prostrate Kramarenko, only to thud against the right-hand post.

The same upright was rattling again eight minutes later, with Lampard firing a scorching 25-yard strike against it after Gerrard's square ball was cleared into his path. With Joe Cole flitting in and out of the action, England were in the ascendancy throughout, although they had survived a scare as early as the eighth minute when John Terry's slip left Gurban Gurbanov in the clear, only for the Azeri skipper to drag his shot wide of the right-hand post.

Gurbanov could be excused that miss - the Neftchi Baku striker is hardly one of Europe's leading lights - but the same could not be said of Owen, who contrived to waste England's best first-half chance when he headed over a minute before half-time despite being completely unmarked on the edge of the six-yard box.

The half-time whistle was greeted with a smattering of boos but, just as Joe Cole had instigated a second-half turnaround on Saturday, so Gerrard changed the complexion of the game six minutes after the break last night.

The Liverpool midfielder had been relatively quiet to that point but, when Rooney pulled the ball back to him after a defence-splitting long ball from Beckham, he drilled an acrobatic half-volley that skidded off the turf before finding the back of the net via the underside of the crossbar.

In 1966, Azerbaijani linesman Tofik Bakhramov became famous for allowing another England goal that had cannoned off the woodwork, but the trajectory of Gerrard's strike meant his Portuguese equivalent was left with a far less complicated task.

Gerrard's opener duly opened the floodgates and, 11 minutes later, Lampard and Beckham combined to double England's lead.

The Chelsea midfielder, recently voted England's Footballer of the Year by the country's fans, sent his skipper clean through and, after beating the offside trap, Beckham calmly side-footed past the exposed Kramarenko.

Not to be outdone, Rooney almost scored the goal of the game in the 69th minute but the Azeri goalkeeper parried his ferocious first-time volley from the edge of the box.

The Manchester United striker went even closer shortly after, becoming the third England player to hit the post after flicking the ball goalwards following an intelligent run to the near post.

Result: England 2 Azerbaijan 0.