England

1-1

Wales

Justin Richards 29

Craig Moore 79

Four Nations Tournament
Thursday 25 May 2006
Eastbourne Borough FC

A 1-1 draw for England at Eastbourne Borough on Thursday night means the destiny of the Four Nations Tournament will be decided on Saturday.

On a bright early summer's evening on the South Coast, conditions were perfect in front of a healthy crowd of 1,024 as Paul Fairclough's side took on Wales.

Both sides had won their opening fixture on Tuesday and the Welsh started the stronger, with Craig Moore dragging a shot narrowly wide on six minutes after a long throw failed to be cleared.

Ian Craney had England's closest chance ten minutes later when his shot from the edge of the box had veteran 'keeper Tony Roberts scampering across his line, whilst Aaron McLean screwed another effort wide on 26 minutes.

The Three Lions were certainly demonstrating greater cohesion and a goal finally came on 29 minutes.

George Boyd's corner was only partly cleared by a weak Tony Roberts punch. Kieron Charnock fired the ball back in, and Woking's Justin Richards applied the deftest touch at the back post to give England the lead.

Three minutes later and the ball was again in the back of the Welsh net but Ian Craney's long range shot was ruled out as Richards was standing in an offside position.

England could have given themselves some breathing space twelve minutes into the second half but were denied by the woodwork.

After a long ball down the left by Boyd, Dennis Oli touched the ball to McLean and the diminutive Grays striker rifled his shot against the crossbar.

Oli will have hoped to have done better himself six minutes later when following a corner, he headed a Charnock knock-back over from six yards whilst unmarked. As both sides made a series of substitutions, Paul Fairclough's side were made to pay for their profligacy eleven minutes from time.

Darren Kempson made a rash challenge in the box and Craig Moore made no mistake from the penalty spot to bring the Welsh level.

Both sides were unable to find a winner and with Scotland winning 2-1 at Worthing against the Republic of Ireland, thanks to goals from Craig MacMillan and Stuart McKay, three countries go into Saturday's final games with a chance of winning the 2006 Four Nations Tournament.

England: Shwan Jalal, Simon Travis, Darren Kempson, Kieran Charnock, John Nutter, Dennis Oli, Stuart Thurgood, Ian Craney (Michael Carr, 83mins), George Boyd, Aaron McLean (Gary Roberts, 75mins), Justin Richards (Craig Mackail-Smith, 60mins)

Attendance: 1,024