Austria 2-2 England Photos from Vienna

He allowed Andreas Ivanschitz's shot to slip through his fingers to complete Austria comeback from two goals down.

Eriksson said: "It happens in football, but he has saved us so many times before, so it's not a problem."

And asked if James would face Poland, Eriksson added: "I am quite sure that David will play on Wednesday."

Eriksson was frustrated that England had allowed Austria back in for a 2-2 draw after goals from Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard appeared to have sealed victory.

He said: "We played well enough to win the game. We played very well in the first half and controlled it completely.

James admits costly error

"At 2-0 we should have made it 3-0. It was a game we should have won.

"It is important that we go to Poland and win and I hope we can play like we did in the first half here.

"We created chances and did well defensively. I do not recall Austria creating any good chances."

This calls for a cool head not a panic reaction. We drew, not lost, and should still qualify comfortably. From Andy Green Have your say on 606

England captain David Beckham said: "For 70 minutes it couldn't have been a better performance then it's all gone wrong.

"We now have to forget this and pick ourselves up when we play in Poland on Wednesday."

Goalscorer Gerrard revealed his surprise substitution was the result of a mix-up on the England bench.

He said: "It was a bit of a misunderstanding. Wayne Bridge had a kick on his Achilles and I signalled to the bench to change him - and they changed me.

"I thought the manager wanted me to come off but he thought I had signalled to come off - it's one of those things, I can't do anything about it."