England 2-0 Czech Republic

The Nationwide Under 17 Tournament
Thursday 11th July, St Andrews, Birmingham

Bowditch brace seals victory for England U-17s v Czech Republic

Two excellent Dean Bowditch strikes were enough to give England a well-deserved victory against a very capable Czech Republic side in an entertaining encounter in Birmingham on Thursday night.

England coach John Peacock shuffled his pack for this, the second of their three matches in this year's Nationwide international tournament. With Brazil looming on Sunday, Luke Moore, England's two goal hero from the thrilling draw with Italy, was rested allowing the tenacious Dean Bowditch the chance to shine up front. And how the young forward took his opportunity.

The Czechs, who had themselves earned a highly respectable draw against Brazil on match-day one, opened brightly with their left back, Pavel Picka, stinging the hands of a fully-stretched David Martin with an early swerving effort from the edge of the box.

As England went forward in search of the game’s opening goal the Czech right-winger Fiala threatened to break through for a one on one with Martin and the young lions were grateful for Giddings' powers of recovery as the young Coventry left-back snuffed out the danger.

The early danger brought the best out of England and Bowditch's perceptive ball swiftly released Smith down the left and the Arsenal flyer was only inches away from the far corner with his firmly struck snap-shot on the run.

The core of this England team have progressed together from the Under-16s last season and their collective spirit was evident as they fought and played their way into this game.

Ater the break Peacock's boys stepped up a gear with James Milner's deceptive skills often coming to the fore on the right wing. And it was from one of his forays that the breakthrough eventually arrived on 49 minutes.

After the Leeds man had earned a corner, Ryan Smith played a short pass to Leadbitter whose driven ball across the box was expertly converted at the near post by Bowditch with a cheeky right-foot flick. It was an exemplary finish which brought the noisy St. Andrew's contingent to their feet.

Encouraged by the goal, England played a more expansive game for the last half an hour with Leadbitter, who the manager described as a "tenacious and bright footballer," dictating the game from the centre of midfield. The cohesion and understanding between the central trio of Leadbitter, Doyle and O'Hara was a feature of our play and allowed these talented youngsters to show off their skills with a fluidity of play and movement which was both encouraging to note and attractive to watch.

And, with the razor-sharp Luke Moore being introduced as a second half substitute, England also had a genuine cutting edge upfront. It's always difficult to make predictions about any youngster but the Aston Villa striker undoubtedly has both the pace and goalscoring instincts to suggest that he might play at a higher level. He might have secured his third goal in two outings for the Under-17s had his well-placed downward header from Milner's excellent cross not ricocheted to safety off the foot of the post.

Instead, it was left to Dean Bowditch to gleefully grab his second of the night with only a minute left on the clock. The Ipswich man won possession in midfield and, with Moore and Milner offering options either side of him, sized up his options before drifting an immaculate chip over Kraus from the edge of the area.

"They were both great goals," England coach John Peacock told TheFA.com after the game.

"We had identified a weakness in the Czech team at set-pieces and managed to surprise them with the short corner for the first. The second goal was quite simply an excellent finish.

"It would be hard to find two better goals at this level."

With Brazil and Italy drawing 1-1 earlier in the day, John Peacock's side are in pole position in this Nationwide Tournament. Only Brazil now stand between us and glory...sound familiar?

From Daniel Freedman at St. Andrews.

England: Martin, Ifil, S. Taylor (c) (McMahon 46), Milner, Leadbitter, Giddings, A. Taylor, O'Hara (Huddlestone 68), Doyle, Bowditch, Smith (Moore  56)