England v Holland
European Challenge Trophy
7.45pm, Wednesday 29 November 2006
Burton Albion FC (click here for directions)
Tickets £5 (£1 concessions) - available on the gate or from 08701 900060

England National Game XI Head Coach Paul Fairclough is expecting a tough encounter when his team take on Holland at Burton Albion on Wednesday night.

Fairclough will lead his side into the match needing just a point to seal the inaugural European Challenge Trophy, but despite enjoying a comprehensive 3-0 victory when the sides met in Woking in February 2005, he knows it will be more than a formality.

However, the Barnet boss is confident that his team, sporting a number of new faces, can finish the job off and be the first group of players to lift the new trophy.

"We know that Holland will be a very different kettle of fish to the side that played over at Woking 19 months ago," he told TheFA.com. "They’ve had a complete change to their management and to how the team is selected.

"We’ve always had difficult games against them, though we beat them quite comprehensively last time. We had a tough game before that away in Holland and we’re expecting another challenging encounter this time."

Fairclough added: "A great deal of work has gone in to forming this competition and I believe it will grow over the next few years, it won’t just be four teams like this inaugural tournament.

"For us to be leading the group going into the last round of fixtures is fantastic.If we can lift the trophy it will be amazing for everybody involved, the players, the staff and, from my point of view, it will be a very proud moment."

After a busy weekend of Nationwide Conference action, which saw three of the squad in the goals, plus Dennis Oli who withdrew on Monday due to injury, the players met up to prepare for this important game. Fairclough believes that it's important to build team spirit in the time they have together so that the players perform as a unit on the pitch.

He said: "The beauty of this team is that it mirrors the full national team. When they come together they become great friends and those friendships continue when the meet each other in domestic football.

"One of the things we do try to achieve with this side is to get them to blend like a club side as soon as we possibly can; so we work on team bonding while on the training pitch we tend to focus more on pattern of play and set-pieces.

"It’s important that over the few days we have the players that we get them to gel, but it’s certainly not something we’ve had a problem with before."

The match kicks of at the Pirelli Stadium at 7.45pm and tickets are available at the gate on the night or from Burton Albion's ticket office on 08701 900060 priced at £5 or £1 concessions.