Croatian coach Slaven Bilic and his players said they now had control of their Euro 2008 qualifying group after a deserved 2-0 win over England on Wednesday.

"We were all outstanding. We played a fantastic game and the score in no way flattered us," said captain Niko Kovac, whose inviting cross on the hour set up Eduardo da Silva to break the deadlock in Group E.

"I expected more from England but I think we won because we played really well, not because they were poor. We didn't let them play the way they would have liked to," he told reporters.

The result stretched Croatia's impressive unbeaten run at home to 30 competitive matches and Bilic believes it also put England in a complicated position.

"It's much more than three points for us because England are now under pressure to get results against Israel and Russia. It was always going to be a very tight group," he said.

Croatia, England, Israel and Macedonia are locked on seven points while Russia have five.

BIGGEST WIN

England and Macedonia have played one game more than the other three teams in the top five, while Estonia and Andorra are rooted to the bottom of the table with no points.

Da Silva described the result as the biggest win of his career and warned Croatia must "keep both feet on the ground" to build on their achievement.

"We mustn't lose our composure now or start thinking we are the best in the world. We have done a great job and we must build on it in the upcoming matches," he said.

"But we have seen now that we have got great potential and that we are capable of beating anybody."

Central midfielder Luka Modric, who was at the heart of every Croatian attack, agreed the win was a huge but not a decisive step towards the finals in Switzerland and Austria.

"This win has put us in the driving seat but we still have a lot of difficult matches to play," he said.

"It is a phenomenal feeling to beat England though. We are all overjoyed after a terrific performance that foiled any plan England might have had for us.

"We were in control from start to finish and gave Steve McClaren's men no room to operate."