Terry keen to forget spitting incident

(GETTY IMAGES)

England captain John Terry insists a spitting incident involving Croatia striker Ivan Klasnic should not detract from the joy of Fabio Capello's side reaching the 2010 World Cup finals.

Terry accused Bolton player Klasnic of spitting at him during the 5-1 win at Wembley that sealed a place in South Africa next summer.

Klasnic, on loan at the Reebok Stadium from French club Nantes, had replaced Eduardo as a 73rd-minute substitute.

Terry said: "It's not a nice situation. He is the first person who has ever spat at me. It's one of those things but let's not let it ruin a massive night for us.

"We have achieved what we wanted in reaching the finals with two games to spare and it is a great feeling after the disappointment of losing to Croatia and not making the Euro 2008 finals.

"It was a chance to give the fans something back. Now we aim to finish this campaign very strongly as well. The job is not done yet.

"We've got our foot in South Africa and we are there but the main thing is we keep improving.

"Let's not forget it has taken us a year or so to get to this level. We still want to progress and have a lot of improvements to make in this squad.

"This is where we want to be, competing at this level and at this standard."

Two-goal Frank Lampard said: "We think we put the record straight after what happened two years ago. This performance showed everything we are about.

"This is the first step, we have qualified now and there is still a long way to go. If we can keep improving when we get to the World Cup, then that will be fantastic."

Aaron Lennon, who impressed on his recall on the left flank, said: "It could not have gone much better. I have started the season well and just tried to carry on what I had been doing at Spurs.

"Luckily for me, it went my way and I did quite well. My game is to try to get into the full-back as much as I possibly can.

"We got the ball out wide a lot, but the whole team was brilliant. We want to win every game and do not want to come out of this run.

"Winning games is a great feeling, and we want to continue to win all the games in the group, and I do not see why we cannot do that."