Bent feeling right at home with England

The Aston Villa striker has been prolific at Premier League level for several seasons but has had to wait for his Three Lions chance.

However, after netting a typically predatory strike to put England 2-0 ahead in the Millennium Stadium, Bent hopes he can become a big part of Fabio Capello’s plans.

He said: “It is always hard when you have had 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there. But when you get a run in the side, you take great confidence from that.

“I would love to be the No 9 for as long as possible but there are a lot of top strikers about. If Fabio keeps picking me, hopefully I will keep producing the goods.”

Bent, who moved to Villa Park from Sunderland in January for £24m, added: “Scoring at this level gives me a lot of confidence.

“International football is a step up from the Premier League and to show you can score goals at international level has always been the hardest thing.

“To be fair, for me the most difficult one was getting the first one but hopefully now, if I can stay in the side, and keep playing well, there will be many more goals for me.

“I feel as if I belong at this level, definitely. I always believed in that even when at first the goals weren’t going in.

“I always believed that I was good enough to score goals at this level and hopefully it is showing now.”

Bent feels England were deserving winners against Wales in Cardiff as they moved back to the top of Group G.

He said: “These games can always be difficult because derbies are always difficult games to play in. But for us to go 2-0 up in the first 15 minutes made it a lot more comfortable than maybe it could have been then if it had stayed 0-0 for a while.

“The manager was happy. There is always room for improvement but we were definitely the better team over 90 minutes.”