Jack Wilshere yesterday placed England’s embarrassing 2014 early World Cup exit in the history books as he continued to help the national side move on from Brazil.

Two losses and a draw consigned Roy Hodgson and his men to the worst record of any England side to compete in the finals and led to a number of players retiring from international duty as well as a shake-up at club level to increase the number of youngsters coming through at academy level.

But the victory over Estonia on Sunday night has helped eased the pressure on the national side and Wilshere feels the nation can now look towards a promising future.

“It is credit to the manager and his coaching staff that the World Cup is consigned to history,” England midfielder Wilshere said.

“The first meet-up after the World Cup, we went through it and that was it.

“Maybe the game against Switzerland (a 2-0 win in Basel last month) helped where people didn’t expect us to do much but we went there and showed we have still got the quality that is required for this level.

“We have pushed on from that game now and we are looking forward. We are taking each game as it comes and we’ll look forward to the next ones.

“We are happy with the win but we are happy with the performance as well, especially in the first half,” the Arsenal midfielder said.

“We dominated the game, we stayed on top of them. We knew it wasn’t going to be as easy as San Marino (who England beat 5-0 last Thursday). This is a well-organised team.

“We were away from home on a different pitch to what we are used to, but I thought we did well.

“We created chances, we looked back and we probably should have scored a few more but we are happy with the win.”

Wilshere was once again quick to praise captain Rooney — who he called a “father figure” last week — for having the mental strength to put his misses behind him and score the decisive goal to gift England the three points.

“That’s the sign of a world-class player,” he said.

“He had a few opportunities but when it comes to those sorts of moments of magic, he can produce them.

“He has done it throughout his England and Manchester United career. He has still got it and we are lucky to have him.”