England’s long unbeaten under 21 side took a big step towards the European Championships last night by winning the first leg of their play-off game 3-2 in Wales.
There are high hopes for this generation of players (where have we heard that before?) as they reached the final of the under 19 championships and the semi-final of the under 21’s last year.
England showed some excellent attacking play and to score three goals away from home is always impressive. The scorers, David Wheater, Adam Johnson and Gabby Agbonlahor are all Premier League players who could easily make the step-up to the full international arena in due course.
The less impressive part of the performance was the defending as they gave Wales two goals and could have conceded more. Between them, England’s central defenders, David Wheater and Steven Taylor, have well over one hundred Premier League games under their belts. Wales’ goals were scored by Simon Church, a nineteen year old Reading reserve striker who has played twenty-two games in the lower leagues on loan and scored one goal .
It was nice to see a game involving an England team whereby the play was quick, skillful and entertaining, but if this team want to do well in the finals, they will have to tighten up considerably. Manager Stuart Pearce had mixed feelings after the game and he will be working hard on the defending between now and the second leg at Aston Villa on Tuesday evening.
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