Joe Cole of England is challenged by Augustin Paulik of Slovakia (ShaunBotterill/GettyImages)

Cole had been left out by Sven-Goran Eriksson for this evening's clash with Slovakia in Bratislava after figuring in his plans for much of the past 12 months, including being part of the World Cup squad.

But there was no complaining from the West Ham star after being returned to Under-21 coach David Platt's new-look squad for the first time in 14 months.

Cole set up the first two goals and capped his performance with a stunning 20-yard strike in the 87th minute - even though Eriksson was not there to see it as he had left the stadium before the final whistle.

Cole said: 'It is never hard to play football for England at any level. I didn't see it as a step down and I saw all my mates again and it was enjoyable and good to make a winning start to the group.

'I am an ambitious lad and I want to be back in the full squad as soon as possible, but I'm not silly and the only way I can do that is by putting in performances for West Ham and the Under-21s.

'It wasn't a case of me sending a message with the way I played. I just thought to myself `I'm going to work hard here, see if I can try and open things up and make a few goals', and it just worked for me on this occasion.

'It is very pleasing when it happens like that but now I've got another game on Tuesday against Macedonia and I've got to do the same again.'

Typically Platt refused to single out Cole for individual praise and focused more on a fine all-round team performance against a side only beaten 2-1 in Turkey in their opening group encounter.

He said: 'There is a media presence surrounding Joe with him going to a World Cup and then dropping down to the Under-21s. I never expected anything different from him or the rest of the players and it would be unfair to single out one player from a very good performance.

'I don't think there was one player on the park who could have played as well as they did without the help of the other players.

'It was our first group game and we've got a win and scored goals but also put in a good performance. Good performances and good results breed spirit and breed confidence and we can go out and build on that.'

Cole created the first-half opener for Shola Ameobi and a delightful ball set up Francis Jeffers for the second goal.