In the second half a lone trumpeter treated the Japanese referee to a rendition of Colonel Bogey. The beetroot faced horde4s sang Rule Brittania and the soccer world was breathing sighs of relief. England were winning, Marseille was in with a chance of surviving the night. Tunisia could offer their defeat for the greater good.

Al last England was seeing some action on the pitch rather than on the tear-gas fragranced back streets of the old port town. Quite comforting it was, too, a display surpassing competence, embroidered occasionally with touches of beauty.

It was the sort of game, which as Glenn Hoddle pointed out afterwards, "so called favourites often find tricky", and for the first hour when Tunisian ambition was at its high point, England looked a little sluggish.

The Tunisian were erratic , though, fading to weak. Too reliant on necklacing endless passes together and seldom switching to the surprise early ball(which their coach had so admired while watching Morocco last week), they were a relatively straightforward challenge for England's meat and potatoes defence.

England expressed themselves as being sufficiently pleased with the whole business and, indeed, there will be very few obvious ailments when Hoddle sifts through he game for forensic evidence. The wide players, Anderton and Le Saux, did enough to keep the pot boiling. Anderton saved Hoddle from a Beckham related backlash. Le Saux kept himself intact.

The central midfield pairing of Batty and Ince were less conspicuous and Scholes, just in front of, them, did most of the thinking for the team. Not that it was a game which England had to figure a way through. For perhaps 30 minutes, as the sides explored each other in the first date sort of way, they exchanged chances at a rate approaching parity before England moved the agenda a little under the prompting of Paul Scholes.

It was Scholes's header on the half hour, meeting Anderton's cross and provoking a good reaction save from El Ouaer, which set the tone for the remainder of the game. Six minutes later Sheringham essayed a rasping shot which woke up a sleeping Tunisian defence.

Two minutes later Scholes should have done better when Sheringham set him up. On 42 minutes, though it was Alan Shearer, as reliable as daybreak, who wedged a gap between the sides. Le Saux swung a vicious free kick across the right. Three Tunisians obeyed gravity's call while Shearer rose to provide a solid old English style centre forward's header to the net. Meanwhile, the Tunisian goalkeeper was flailing thought he air some ball which only he saw.

The Tunisians, who until then had supplemented the front challenge of Sellimi and Slimane with good running from Godhbane and Chihi and an advanced posting for Souayeh, retreated into their shell a little after the break, the fear of being overwhelmed weighing on their minds more than a possibility of springing a surprise.

It was a shame, it would have been instructive to see England's back three enduring a little more pressure and inventiveness.

Tunisia had the touches and a breezy enthusiasm with their short passing game, but England's muscular constancy wore them down and the second half was virtually owned by them.

Sheringham, not as creative as Scholes playing behind him, ahs his moments and should perhaps have taken the initiative in the 16tyh minute when he wormed through but opted to feed Adams (of all people) in the box.

As the game moved on the Tunisians flexed themselves a little, exploring the possibilities of the counter-attack, a strategy which almost brought a result on 60 minutes when substitute Zoubele sent a shot skimming over the bar.

Not long afterwards Batty introduced himself to the world, taking Ben Younce's head off with his newly patented bicycle tackle. Going towards the death England were breathing with a confidence which was uninterrupted by Thabet's header from a cross by Baya.

And then, the final exclamation mark to the game was added by Scholes in a cameo of cheeky inventiveness from England. Ince, travelling parallel to the goalline just outside the penalty area, back-heeled a ball into Scholes's path. Most eyes in the Velodrome flicked around looking for his passing options. Scholes planted a wonderful shot to the top corner of the Tunisian net.

"He's a young man who feels at home out there," said Hoddle afterwards. Superflously.