England Under 17s go into their second European Championship qualifier with Slovakia at the Reebok Stadium tomorrow in a strong position and in good spirits after a 2-0 win against Czechoslovakia at Chester's Deva Stadium last night when goals from Southampton's Martin Cranie and Norwich's Ryan Jarvis, a penalty, gave them the perfect start to the mini-tournament.
John Peacock's team, who also face Scotland at Prenton Park, Tranmere on Sunday, took the lead after just ten minutes against the Czech Republic in front of a crowd of just under 2,000 and although they dominated the play for most of the match it needed a second half penalty from Jarvis to confirm a win which might have been more emphatic with better finishing.
England's three-pronged attack - made up initially of Leeds United's Aaron Lennon, Aston Villa's Luke Moore and Jarvis - had too much pace and purpose for the visitors to handle and the Czechs had to resort to some pretty desperate defending to keep the score down after Craine had opened the scoring with his first international goal on home soil, having missed a straightforward header five minutes earlier.
Derby County's Nathan Doyle tried his luck from 20 yards after 14 minutes but found the keeper handily positioned to deal with the shot and six minutes later Jarvis and Tottenham's Philip Ifil combined well to set up Lennon, but the Leeds youngster's volley from eight yards cleared the goal by some way. It was all fairly promising stuff from England though and their keeper Thomas Heaton was rarely tested in the opening period.
The Czechs had decent spells either side of half time but for the last half and hour it was one way traffic with the English lads firmly in the driving seat. Ifil went close with a left foot effort and Doyle again chanced his arm from distance, about 35 yards out this time, but his spectacular effort was well caught by the Czech keeper after he'd initially been caught out of position.
Jarvis then missed three clear cut chances before making amends from the penalty spot after 69 minutes, having been brought down himself by the over-worked Czech keeper. So it's Slovakia up next and then Scotland at the weekend, and two more performances like this should give England every chance of making the final tournament in Portugal.
The England Team
Thomas Heaton (Man United)
Philip Ifil (Spurs)
Steven Taylor (Newcastle, captain)
Martin Cranie (Southampton)
Nathan Doyle (Derby)
Luke Moore (Aston Villa, Holmes, 45)
Jamie O'Hara (Spurs)
Aaron Lennon (Leeds, Morrison, 53)
Grant Leadbitter (Sunderland)
Andrew Taylor (Middlesbrough)
Ryan Jarvis (Norwich, Forte, 69).
Subs: Stuart Giddings (Coventry), Mark Noble (West Ham), James Morrison (Middlesbrough), Anthony McMahon (Middlesbrough), David Martin (Wimbledon), Lee Holmes (Derby), Jonathan Forte (Sheff United)
