England manager Roy Hodgson denied claims he was about to substitute Wayne Rooney until his captain scored the crucial goal in Sunday's scrappy 1-0 win over minnows Estonia.

Rooney had endured a difficult time in the Euro 2016 qualifier in Tallinn as he squandered several chances and struggled to impose himself.

With England finding it hard to break down Estonia even after the hosts had skipper Ragnar Klavan sent off early in the second half, it was reported that Hodgson was ready to replace Rooney in the closing stages.

ITV, the television channel broadcasting the match in the United Kingdom, claimed the fourth official had been given a form confirming Rooney would be replaced by Liverpool forward Rickie Lambert.

But before that change could take place, Rooney stepped up to curl a free-kick past Estonia goalkeeper Sergei Pareiko in the 73rd minute for his 43rd international goal.

Hodgson eventually sent on Lambert for Danny Welbeck, with Rooney completing the match, and he was adamant he hadn't decided on taking off the Manchester United star.

"I was in discussions with other members of my staff, I don't know about forms going in," Hodgson told ITV.

"No doubt you're going to produce some evidence in a minute about a form going in, but that wasn't my intention.

"We were going to put Rickie Lambert on and we were discussing which of the forwards to take off.

"I hadn't made up my mind, it was probably more likely to be Danny Welbeck and it had to be Danny in the end because he tweaked his ankle.

"It was a good free-kick but it was a frustrating night for Wayne. He had a lot of the ball and had a lot of chances.

"I think he would have been bitterly disappointed if he had come off the pitch without a goal, but luckily he scored the winner."

Rooney said he didn't know anything about his potential substitution, preferring to focus on a result that left England top of Group E after three successive victories.

"I've shown over the years I'm always capable of scoring goals. For the goal I was focused on getting it over the wall," he told ITV.

"The keeper made a good save from me at the end but we are playing well. The pleasing thing is that we have a young team and we hung in there."