ITALY

 

ENGLAND

 

0-1

 

King 20'


International Friendly
US Ivrea FC
Wednesday 10 November 2004

Paul Fairclough’s England National Game side gained some revenge for their 4-1 defeat at Shrewsbury earlier this year by defeating the Italians on home soil last Wednesday.

The match, played at Ivrea resulted in a 1-0 win for the English under 23 side against their counterparts from the Italian Serie C.

The match, played in front of a crowd of around 2,000, started well for the English who kept the ball away from the opposition at every opportunity and it was a full five minutes before the Italians got out of their own half.

The Italian side seemed stung by the physical presence of the England side, with Carlisle’s Karl Hawley and York City’s Andy Bishop in particular giving the Italian defence a torrid time.

England deservedly took the lead with a debut goal from Barnet’s Simon King after 20 minutes. King reacted first after his shot from a David Perkins corner had been blocked by the Italian defence.

After the game Fairclough was pleased with the performance of his side "We set our stall out to be strong and contest every ball and we created chanced straightaway" he added "It was a magnificent performance – arguably the best performance since I took over"

England’s next outing will be in February when they are at home to Holland. The Dutch are always a talented side and the game should further test Fairclough’s new crop of players. The game will be played on Wednesday 16th February at a venue to be confirmed.

England: Bull (Stockdale), Blackburn (Jackson), Yakubu, King, Perkins, Thurgood, Kerr, Sinclair (Surey), Elding, Hawley (Purdie), Bishop (Craney)