Argie bargey: Ugo Monye of England misses a high catch under pressure from Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe of Argentina during the international test match between England and Argentina at Twickenham yesterday

Matt Banahan's third Test try earned England the victory they craved over Argentina but the result will do little to ease the pressure on Martin Johnson.

England were being held 9-9 before James Haskell sparked their one bright moment on a grim afternoon at Twickenham and Banahan finished off the try.

Johnson had assured fans they would see an immediate improvement after last week's defeat to Australia. But this was worse. Argentina had only been together for a week and they undermined England's excuses about needing time to build a performance. For much of the game it was Argentina who were the more cohesive unit.

In the first half, Ugo Monye was exposed at full-back and the Twickenham crowd became so frustrated they began to jeer. When England left the field at half-time, with the scores at 9-9, boos rang around the stadium.

Jonny Wilkinson's tactical kicking was disappointing again but he stroked England into the lead with an early drop-goal. But despite missing so many key creative players it was Argentina who showed the most inclination to attack. Martin Rodriguez drew Argentina level with a penalty but Wilkinson responded with to nudge England back into the lead.

Monye, a stand-in full-back for England, was struggling badly as Santiago Fernandez continued to pepper him with high balls. When his third attempted catch went to ground, Haskell compounded the problem by diving on the ball and to give Rodriguez a penatly which he converted.

When England were again penalised at the scrum, Rodriguez edged Argentina ahead with a third penalty but the Pumas conceded almost immediately. Wilkinson drew the scores level at half-time, when Mark Cueto moved to full-back and immediately looked much more at home in the position.

The second half was a grind until finally with 10 minutes remaining, England managed to create the kind of dynamic rugby they had promised from the outset.

Haskell sparked the move with a midfield break and the ball was spread wide via Cueto and Lewis Moody for Banahan to score under the posts with Wilkinson converting.

Argentina piled the pressure on at the death in search of the draw but England defended gallantly to hold on.

England U Monye; M Cueto, D Hipkiss, S Geraghty, M Banahan; J Wilkinson, P Hodgson; T Payne, D Hartley, D Bell; L Deacon, S Borthwick; T Croft, L Moody, J Haskell Subs J Worsley for Croft, 62 mins; P Doran-Jones for Payne, 63 mins; S Thompson for Hartley, 68 mins; A Goode and D Care for Wilkinson and Hodgson, both 75 mins Scorers Banahan try; Wilkinson 2 pens, drp gl, con

Argentina H Agulla; L Borges, G Tiesi, C Rodriguez, MA Comuzzi; S Fernandez, A Lalanne; R Roncero, M Ledesma, M Scelzo; E Lozada, P Albacete; T Leonardi, A Abadie, JM Fernandez Lobbe Subs A Campos for Abadie, 33 mins; M Carizza for Lozada, 55 mins; M Ayerza for Scelzo, 66 mins; A Figuerola for Lalanne, 75 mins Scorers Rodriguez 3 pens

Referee Nigel Owens (Wales)