Cahill made his first competitive starts both at home and away during the international break, scoring his maiden senior goal in Friday's 3-0 qualifying win in Bulgaria before helping his country keep another clean sheet in Tuesday night's narrow victory over Wales. The 25-year-old Bolton defender could have been forgiven for being distracted by his failure to secure a move to Arsenal or Tottenham during the transfer window. Instead, he showed he was ready to challenge the persistently-injured Rio Ferdinand as England captain Terry's first-choice partner. "I'd like to think I've shown the manager that I'm reliable and hopefully he will have confidence in me to go out and do the job," said Cahill. "I've been pleased personally with the last two performances." Cahill was joined in England's new-look defence by Chris Smalling, who made his debut home and away in the past week. The Manchester United youngster, who has been playing right-back this season, was particularly thrilled to make his senior Wembley bow on Tuesday night. "It was great to be able to play in the senior team here," the 21-year-old said. "I've played with the under-21s, so to make that big step up was definitely a dream come true." Smalling would have been denied his unblemished record as an England player had Robert Earnshaw not missed a sitter on Tuesday night. "I saw it on the replay and we were quite lucky that he didn't bury that because it was definitely a chance that he should've," Smalling admitted. Cahill added: "I don't think Joe Hart has had too much to do during the game but we were fortunate on that occasion." Smalling has already revealed he prefers playing at centre-half and he had some nervy moments at full-back in the last two games. "At times, I obviously found it pretty difficult," he said. "But I'm happy to walk off with a clean sheet, especially being a defender." Cahill concurred, adding: "First and foremost as a defender, you want to keep a clean sheet. Then you are not going to lose the game. "We did that, managed to get the goal early on and got a good result in the end. "Wales caused us quite a few problems, especially late on in the second half and, in the last 20 minutes, they put us under a lot of pressure. "We could have played a little bit better but the result is the main thing." Indeed, that result ensured England would travel to Montenegro next month know a draw would put them in next summer's Euro 2012 finals. Cahill said: "With the quality we've got throughout the side, we've got to go there with positive intent and look to win if at all possible. "That is the way we approach most of the games now and I don't see why that will change." Smalling added: "I think a win definitely sets us up for when we play Montenegro next. "After these 10 days, we can go home and we can think that we've done our job. "So it's all looking good."
