Sven-Goran Eriksson has backed Michael Owen's bid to emulate Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer as the striker who can shoulder the burden of England's goalscoring needs.

Andy Cole's first international goal may have seized the immediate headlines after England's 3-1 win in Albania had revived their World Cup qualifying hopes, at least in terms of a play-off place.

However, it was Owen who put England en route to the third consecutive victory of Eriksson's reign with his 10th goal for England, his fourth goal for his country in six internationals and his second in five days.

No sooner had Cole underlined his claims for a regular place with his first strike in 13 caps than he had to face up to the fact that a booking, his second of the qualifying campaign, had earned him a one-match suspension.

That will rule him out of the next World Cup qualifier against Greece in June and with Eriksson now needing a new strike partnership, Cole could also miss out on May's warm-up friendly against Mexico.

His rivals have therefore been handed a chance to seize his place and that includes the opportunity for Owen to prove that he should be given the most advanced forward role rather than again being asked to drop deeper.

The striker indicated earlier this week that he would prefer to be the spearhead of the side as he expressed his desire to ''have the responsibility where people are expecting me to score and hoping that I score."

Eriksson responded: ''I am very happy to hear that. Michael Owen has quality which very few attackers have.

''He is very good on the ball, is intelligent and scores goals, but also very quick and can run in behind defenders.

''I am very happy if he wants to be the new Alan Shearer. I don't want to say that I will give the shirt to Michael Owen for the next five years, he has to compete with the others.

''But he deserves it at the moment and it what happens next depends on him more than it depends on me.''

Owen may have been left out of the side as recently as the friendly against France last September under Kevin Keegan.

But after injury disruptions, he now believes he is close to regaining his best form and has continued his knack of scoring for his country when it matters most.

''After an hour, I was thinking I'd still not had a chance and sometimes you get no opportunities in international football,'' reflected Owen.

''You have to prepare for that scenario sometimes, but equally when you do get one chance, you have to take it as another one might not come along. Thankfully I managed to do that.''

l Andy Cole is being backed by his England teammates to become a regular scorer for his country after finally breaking his duck in Wednesday's World Cup tie in Albania six years after his debut.

Cole's tap-in from almost on the goal-line to secure a 3-1 success in injury time into Tirana will not stay lodged in the memory for long of most soccer pundits.

But in years to come the significance of finally netting at international level in his 13th international even with the most simple of goals may prove immeasurable for Cole.

England skipper and United team mate David Beckham said: ''Andy has had a lot of criticism over the past week or so because he hasn't scored for England.

''It's not been for a want of trying. He always works hard for the 90 minutes like on Wednesday and got his just deserts in the end and now he's silenced the people who doubted him.

''The good thing is that Andy is a really positive person and he goes into every game thinking he's going to score. He showed that attitude in Albania and got his reward in the end."

Paul Scholes, who established himself as the leading scorer in the current England squad with his eleventh goal for his country, said: ''Andy has had a bit of a tough time but we've all stood by him. He has got all the ability in the world and he played very well against Albania."

Emile Heskey, who himself has had question marks placed over him about his England credentials, said: ''The manager and the players have faith in him and I think you could see what it meant to the team when everyone went and congratulated him after he scored.''