Youth Team Watch England U21's V Norway U21's
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28th Feb 2006 |
England 3-1 Norway
Under-21 International Friendly
Reading FC
7.45pm, Tuesday 28 February 2006
Twin Oaks FC players for the first time watch England U21's convincingly beat their opponents on a freezing cold February evening. Most of the players kept warm by having to walk to and from the food outlet as the tickets we had were for seats up in the gods.
MATCH REPORT BELOW
A fine brace from Blackburn Rovers striker David Bentley helped England secure a well-deserved win over Norway.
Peter Taylor's side were in charge for much of the match in front of a healthy Reading crowd on a freezing cold night.
Nevertheless, Norway kept working hard and never gave up and when they grabbed a goal just after the break to level matters their confidence was lifted.
But Bentley, however, had other plans and hit two well-placed strikes to give the Three Lions an excellent start to 2006.
From the start, England were pushing for an opening and it was the lively Wayne Routledge the creator on more than one occasion. First he delivered a low cross from the left for David Nugent, but the Preston man was unable to keep his shot from going over.
Routledge then fed wide to Milner who cut in and drove from range, but the deflection off Jone Samuelsen took the ball from danger.
Anton Ferdinand also came close, but opted for power over placement, and his fierce volley from six yards following a failed Borre Steenslid clearance stuck the far upright with venom.
England soon had the breakthrough, though, when Nugent drew the foul on the edge of the box. Bentley stood over and look odds on to shoot, but Peter Whittingham stepped up and unleashed a powerful low drive inside the post.
Norway did have their chances too, though none clear cut, Erik Huseklepp's effort sliced wide, before Bjorner Holmvik cut in from the left but his tame shot was straight at Scott Carson.
Anton Ferdinand was also called into action after Huseklepp's 41st minute shot was parried by Carson, Myklebust looked odds on to tuck in the rebound, but the West Ham defender was there first.
But Ferdinand couldn't do anything about the equaliser. Steenslid lost his marker for the 52nd minute corner to power home a header from six-yards.
England would have been disappointed at conceding in a game they looked to be comfortably in control of, but that disappointment was soon to fade thanks to Bentley.
Another piece of skill in the middle from Routledge set Bentley free into the box and it was a clinical strike across the goalkeeper and inside the post which restored the lead on 54 minutes.
The ball was back in the same spot six minutes later. Tom Huddlestone tried his luck from the edge of the box with a crowd of players in front of him and his effort skewed into the unmarked Bentley. The former Arsenal forward did well to get the ball out from his feet quickly, before dispatching coolly past Rune Jarstein from 15 yards.
Bentley almost rounded his night off with the match ball before being replaced by John Welsh. After another pass from Routledge his audacious shot with the outside of his left foot missed the target.
Head Coach Taylor was able to see his whole squad have a run out as he used all nine of his subs. Reading striker Leroy Lita had 45 minutes in front of his home crowd while Izale McLeod made his debut with 18 minutes left.
England:
Scott Carson, Lee Camp, Glen Johnson, Justin Hoyte, Peter Whittingham, Taylor Liam Ridgewell, Curtis Davies, Anton Ferdinand, Tom Huddlestone, Nigel Reo-Coker (c),Tom Soares, David Bentley, John Welsh, David Nugent, Cameron Jerome, James Milner, Leroy Lita, Wayne Routledge, Izale McLeod.
Goals: Whittingham 24, Bentley 54, 60
Attendance: 15,022