FABIO CAPELLO will place his trust in Peter Crouch tonight as England look to take a mighty stride towards next summer’s World Cup in South Africa.

After sailing serenely through Group Six, recording four straight wins, Capello’s team have suffered their first major setback.

Injuries suffered in the friendly defeat of Slovakia on Saturday that forced Emile Heskey and Carlton Cole to withdraw over the weekend were compounded this morning when their replacement, Darren Bent, did not even get through the warm-up in training.

Bent’s absence has now been confirmed, with damage to tendons in his knee cited as the problem.

Capello’s assistant Franco Baldini was quickly on the telephone to Aston Villa number two John Robertson to secure the release of Gabriel Agbonlahor, who has recovered from the hamstring problem that forced him to miss Friday’s under-21 game in Norway.

However, given Agbonlahor will not have a single training session with the senior squad, having made his debut in Spain last month, it is to Crouch that Capello must turn against a very dangerous Ukraine outfit.

There is no indication Capello has ever been a big fan of Crouch.

The Portsmouth striker has never started a game for the Italian and went through a period when he did not even make Capello’s squad.

However, as Capello acknowledged, there is no alternative.

"Crouch is the best forward I can put on there," said the England manager.

"He can do the job that Heskey did. But the most important thing will be the movement near him because he cannot play in exactly the same way as Heskey."

No thought was given to bringing back Michael Owen or, it appears, Theo Walcott, who was training tantalisingly close to the England squad at Arsenal’s plush base in London Colney.