Benitez said: "Fernando is a good finisher and he did very well. It's good for a striker's confidence to score. It's a perfect situation for us winning and being near the top of the table before we go to Japan.
"It was a difficult game but we deserved to win it which was the most important thing. We had chances in the first half but couldn't score but I told the players at half-time to keep attacking and playing well and we would find the gaps to score.
"I made a change to bring Luis Garcia on. We weren't winning second balls off Crouch so I brought Luis on just behind Fernando and we played more football and got the goals.
"We are playing very well as a team and are working hard. We have kept 10 clean sheets now and Pepe Reina made two very good saves for us today. We have a good goalkeeper and are defending well and attacking well as a team.
"To see your team playing well, scoring goals and keeping clean sheets is good for a manager, but we are not looking any further than going to Japan and looking to win another trophy."
