JOHN TERRY rescued England's 100 per cent record by nicking a late winner for the Three Lions.
The Chelsea defender marauded forward to turn home five minutes from time after Ukraine substitute Andriy Shevchenko had cancelled out Peter Crouch's deserved opener.
Centre-half Terry had been a figure of fun earlier last week after his mother's shoplifting shame.
But he was all smiles after knocking in Steven Gerrard's header down.
Wayne Rooney inspired England to a largely comfortable night but they almost paid for never quite reaching peak form.
And they needed a late Wembley flurry to take their record to five wins from five World Cup qualifiers.
Rooney's influence was already clear by the time he finished a slick move in the seventh minute with a neat touch and overhead kick inches high.
That flowing break underlined England's early promise, largely based on Rooney's movement down the left with Steven Gerrard.
Gareth Barry's needless booking for a shoulder-push barely affected England's decent momentum.
And Taras Mykhalyk was soon yellow-carded for tripping the darting Rooney.
Gerrard curved a tapped free-kick narrowly off-target from 25 yards midway England's comfortable first-half display.
Then the Liverpool skipper combined with Rooney to spark arguably the move of a night, Aaron Lennon eventually hooking the ball in for Frank Lampard to flick wide .
Rooney's tireless runs continued to unsettle Ukraine, notably when he nodded Lennon's cross wide.
Nonetheless, when England's breakthrough arrived it was largely after gentle pressure rather than utter domination.
Lampard's high corner was nodded back across goal by Terry for Crouch to swivel home a volley from near the penalty spot - showing poaching skills that Michael Owen would have been proud of at his peak.
Rooney's display simply grew better after that, especially when he raked a pass out to Lennon, then dashed into the middle to fire the resulting cross wide.
Anatoliy Tymoschuk, though, came far closer to an equaliser than he should have done, lashing a 30-yarder that the diving David James fumbled.
Gerrard produced his own fizzing long-ranger just before the break, forcing Andriy Pyatov into a solid block low down.
And, after a tentative start to the second period, England regained their edge, Rooney once again playing with the energy of two men.
But Rooney's temper suddenly reared when his fierce, studs-up lunge on Alex Aliev took the ball but more of the Ukraine player as he followed through.
AC Milan's former Chelsea flop Shevchenko came on for the muted Andriy Voronin - before David Beckham's arrival for the unlucky Lennon prompted one of the night's biggest roars.
Beckham soon dipped a free-kick on to the roof of the net.
Rooney remained England's main man, with Gerrard perhaps frustrated at his rather restricted second-half role on the left.
Yet Shevchenko needed just one chance to wreck England's apparent smooth path to victory.
He latched on to a 74th minute free-kick that deflected off Glen Johnson to flash his 40th international goal through a crowded area and past James.
And with England unsettled, Shevchenko broke down the right.
Rooney twisted to lash the ball past the near post when he should have pulled it across goal.
But Terry saved England five minutes from time, nudging in Gerrard's nod-down.
England: James, Johnson, Ferdinand, Terry, Cole, Lennon, Lampard, Barry, Gerrard, Rooney, Crouch. Subs: Foster, Jagielka, Lescott, Wright-Phillips, Carrick, Beckham, Agbonlahor.
Ukraine: Pyatov, Yarmash, Mykhalyk, Chigrinsky, Shevchuk, Aliev, Slyusar, Tymoschuk, Valyaev, Voronin, Milevskiy. Subs: Bogush, Kalinichenko, Kucher, Rusol, Shevchenko, Seleznyov, Nazarenko.
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