Rio Ferdinand has condemned the England supporters who booed Ashley Cole at Wembley yesterday, adding that they should be ashamed of themselves.

The Chelsea defender was jeered by sections of the Wembley crowd during the 5-1 victory over Kazakhstan after his mistake led to a goal for the lowly-ranked visitors. However, Ferdinand, the England captain in place of the injured John Terry, said he was disgusted by the abuse.

"As regards the booing of Ashley, a lot of the fans will go home - and I hope they will be ashamed of what they were doing," Ferdinand said. "You want your fans to be behind you. Everyone is human, and people make mistakes. We are big enough to hold our hands up when we have made a mistake, but it is not made any easier when you have got your own fans booing you.

"I hope people on reflection will make sure they don't do that again. A lot of the fans did try to clap Ashley, and I think you've got to rally round as players and supporters when anyone makes a mistake.

"It is not about getting on their backs. It is about getting behind them and making sure they don't do it again. Then they can rectify it by putting in a good performance for the rest of the match."

This morning the FA have also criticised those supporters who attacked Cole.

"It is crazy that a section of our own supporters are booing one of our own players," an FA spokesman said. "That is clearly not going to help the team during the course of a game, and certainly not the individual being booed.

"Unfortunately, we are all aware that we have had problems of this kind since we have come back to the new Wembley. That is why Fabio Capello stressed before the game we needed the crowd with us.

"The supporters yesterday really got behind us for the vast majority of the game, and there was a great atmosphere during the first half in particular.

"Several players have said they were encouraged to see large numbers in the crowd applauding Ashley Cole to counter-balance those booing him. It is unfair on all the fans who have come to the game with the best intentions of supporting the team throughout."

It is not the first time England supporters have turned on their team since the rebuilt Wembley opened last year, with David Bentley and Frank Lampard also booed by home fans.

Lampard fears the hostile reaction of the supporters could damage England's attempt to make Wembley into an intimidating arena for opposing teams.

"It was disappointing when Ashley, who I think is the best left back in the world, made one mistake and got booed," Lampard said. "I get fed up of talking about it. People have to realise that if we want to make Wembley a performance we need the support the crowd can give.

"The majority of the crowd realised that in the end. We want the fans to get behind the team because they can see we are really trying to do something.

"Everyone can see the benefits of when the crowd is behind the team. In general the crowd were pretty good and that was the one negative."

Capello, the England manager, said he was baffled by the reaction of the crowd.

"I couldn't understand the crowd booing Ashley Cole after he made a mistake," Capello said. "It is possible for one player to make a mistake. It is very important that the crowd help him and not boo him.

"But the crowd was very strong for us. After the first half, they helped us a lot. We needed a speedy player on the left, and he did very well."