England had captain David Beckham sent off as they stuttered to a crucial 1-0 victory against Austria at Old Trafford.
Sven-Goran Eriksson axed Rio Ferdinand, pairing Sol Campbell and John Terry in central defence, while Joe Cole returned in a four-man midfield that saw skipper Beckham back on the right flank.
The early minutes produced little action of note, before an 11th minute Beckham corner almost saw Michael Owen open the scoring.
Six minutes later Paul Scharner made a superb last-ditch tackle to deny the charging Owen a clean run on goal, before keeper Jurgen Macho reacted quickly to deny Luke Young and Owen in quick succession.
With 24 minutes on the clock England got a break as Owen won a fortuitous penalty for a foul by Scharner.
Frank Lampard coolly converted the spot-kick by sending Macho the wrong way to give England a crucial lead.
Both Andreas Ivanschitz and Markus Schopp were cautioned for protesting over the award.
Just past the half-hour mark Beckham's free-kick was blocked by the defensive wall and his follow-up shot stung the palms of Macho.
With half-time approaching Owen was denied another penalty and following another quick break, Macho saved a certain goal with Crouch and Owen bearing down on goal.
After the restart Macho was again the Austrian rescuer with stops from Owen and Crouch, before Roland Linz was denied an equaliser as his lob beat Robinson but came back out off the crossbar just before the hour mark.
Beckham then gained the dubious honour of being the first man to be sent off twice for England as he received two yellow cards in the space of two minutes for fouls on Andreas Ibertsberger.
That forced Eriksson to bring on Ledley King, while Campbell limped off with a hamstring strain to be replaced by Ferdinand.
Despite having a man extra, Austria failed to make much headway in the closing stages, while in injury time Lampard almost added a clinching second goal, seeing Macho turn aside his 20-yard left-footer.
England had just done enough and a victory at home to Poland on Wednesday will ensure they top World Cup Qualifying Group Six.