England share Shield

Scotland v England
Sky Sports Victory Shield
Rugby Park, Kilmarnock
Friday 25 November 2005

England surged past Scotland to share the Victory Shield with Wales, despite falling behind within six seconds to an early strike from their determined opponents.

The win will be a boost for the Young Lions after losing out to Northern Ireland earlier this month and it means that the name England remains on the trophy for the fifth successive year. 

The defeat for Scotland means that they finish bottom of the tournament table despite having a number of impressive young players on display, in particular 14-year-old John Fleck who showed great maturity.

As these players look to their future it was appropriate that they were forced to look to the past, and show their respect for the legendary George Best who passed away earlier today. 

Both sets of players wore armbands and observed a minute's silence following the sad death of a truly great player.

Incredibly England went behind to the fastest ever goal at any level between the countries, with Scottish striker Gary Glen instinctively prodding home after just six seconds.

A bad moment for the England defence who started nervously and contributed to the opening goal.

Of all people it was Victor Moses who gave possession away from an England kick-off, and Scotland capitalised quickly forcing their way through the England backline and taking the earliest of early leads.

It was the perfect start for the Scotland coach Ross Mathie, the former Kilmarnock striker feeling at home at Rugby Park, "It was a great start and it certainly settled our nerves right away. But England are a very good side and they came back into it with some excellent play and we had to alter our formation to deal with it."

For the following quarter of an hour Scotland looked like adding to their lead but slowly England found their feet and edged their way back into the game.

With direct approach play from Moses and Danny Rose and excellent wide play from Rhys Murphy they pressed home their domination on 27 minutes, when a great run and cross from Johnathan Franks led to a Scotland captain Ross Perry turning the ball into his own net.

It was no more than England deserved. In the second half there was further pressure from England who were looking to keep their name on the Victory Shield for a fifth successive year.

Despite the close attentions of David Wotherspoon, Victor Moses still managed to make his mark on the game as he drove England towards the Scotland goal.

With cramp affecting a number of the young limbs on display the game became a stop start affair, but the decisive goal came from fantastic work from Nathan Porritt.

Bursting past three defenders he managed to squeeze home the winner from a tight angle. The young winger will be one to watch, particularly as he has a strong left foot and a commanding presence in the air.

His forceful, persistent efforts were rewarded with what turned out to be the winning goal. There was some late pressure from the Scotland substitute Daniel Galbraith, and Gary Woods was forced to make a brilliant save from Michael Graham after 61 minutes.

In truth it was a comfortable victory for the away team, who showed great ability on the ball and seemed superior physically to their Scottish opponents.

England Coach Kenny Swain was very proud of his players as they lifted the shield and hoped to be seeing them for many years to come in England shirts.

“I’m delighted with the win and I am very proud of my players and the staff who have worked ever so hard,” Swain commented after the match. “We shot ourselves in the foot with the early goal but we responded brilliantly and thoroughly deserved the victory.

“There were some real stars for the future out there and I hope they can reach the highest level, I am sure that they all have a great chance of making it in football,” he added.

The win for England also denied Wales their first outright victory in the competition since 1949.

England: Gary Woods (Manchester United), Moses Barnett (Arsenal) (Joe Mattock (Leicester City) 40), Tony Brookes (West Ham United) (Nana Ofori (Chelsea) 79), Victor Moses (Crystal Palace) Saulo Asajile (Tottenham Hotspur) 80), Rhys Murphy (Arsenal), Nathan Porritt (Middlesbrough), Danny Rose (Leeds United), Jordan Spence (West Ham United), Tom Taiwo (Leeds United), Liam Darville (Leeds United), Jonathan Franks (Middlesbrough)
Subs not used: Ashley Chambers (Leicester City), Steven Clancy (Aston Villa),  Henri Lansbury (Arsenal), Jason Steele (Middlesbrough), Michael Wood (Leeds United)
Scotland: Steven Coutts, Jonathan Crawford, Nicholas Gallacher (Craig McShea 52), Christopher Malone, Ross Perry, John Fleck (Alistair Park  40),  Carlo Monti, Oliver Russell, Stephen Stirling, David Wotherspoon, Gary Glen (Daniel Galbraith 60), Michael Graham,
Subs: James Gilpin, Kenneth Waugh, Callum McKinlay,