England 2-0 Czech Republic

Group 6, European Under-17s Championship Qualifier
Wednesday 12th March 2003, 7pm
Deva Stadium, Chester City FC

England Under-17s kicked off their opening Group 6 European Championship Qualification match with a 2-0 victory over a Czech side who never really threatened the scoreline.

A crowd just short of 2,000 at the Deva Stadium, home of Conference outfit Chester City, saw Martin Cranie open the scoring on 10 minutes and a Ryan Jarvis penalty in the second half of a match that should have had more goals, but sent England top Group 6 after one game following Scotland and Slovakia's 0-0 draw earlier in the day.

England dominated from the first whistle and it was down to them what happened with the ball as the Czech Republic were given the run-around.

With the all eleven eager for a touch, England spread the play superbly as they looked to exploit any gaps that appeared. The three-pronged attack of Aaron Lennon, Ryan Jarvis and Luke Moore seemed far too much for the visitors defence to handle and they were grateful for any opportunity to clear. However when they did, invariably Steven Taylor and Martin Cranie would tidy up and England would start again. And and it was Nathan Doyle, Jamie O'Hara and Grant Leadbitter in the middle orchestrating. 

Slavia Prague defender Michal Parys certainly needed his half-time cup of tea as England were relentless down the left. O'Hara, Lennon, Moore and Andrew Taylor all had a crack at the over-worked defender. But it was from the other side that the first chance came.

After a foul on Jarvis out on the left, O'Hara's in-swinging delivery found Cranie unmarked on the six yard box, he rose well but the Southampton youngster could only direct his header down to Milan Svenger's hands.

Five minutes later, however, he was to be presented with a golden opportunity that he wasn't going to miss. A left-hand corner from Leadbitter was helped on at the near post and fell kindly for Cranie, again on his own, only 8 yards out and he swept home first time to grab his first goal in his first international on home soil.

England's confidence was rewarded, but they wanted more, and on 14 minutes a Leadbitter dummy allowed the ball to roll nicely for Doyle. The Derby County youth took one touch before firing low from 20 yards, but this time it was easy for Svenger.

On twenty minutes it should have been two. Jarvis and Philip Ifil linked well to put Ales Hanzlik in a spin. Ifil fed Jarvis who crossed toward Lennon creeping in between two defenders, but the boy from Leeds couldn't get the direction on his volley and from 8 yards it went well over.

The Czech's then enjoyed their best spell of the first half and, realising they needed to come out a bit, finally brought Thomas Heaton into the game.

Jan Schulmeister, the most dangerous Czech with his bleach blonde hair - reminicent of a young bond villain, guided his team forward. After some skill on the right, space presented itself and he passed cross-field to Petr Tamasak who floated in a ball behind the England defence for Pavel Malcharek, but as it bounced, Steven Taylor was back and his presence foiled Vorisek and the skipper cleared.

But Heaton was called to action moments later when Vlastimil Fiala launched forward for Vorisek who sprung the offside trap, as he faced Heaton one-on-one, the Czech tucked the ball low, but the Manchester United stopper was out quickly and down to his left to palm away magnificently and their chance of going in level was gone.

A ten-minute spell at the start of the second half saw the Czechs with their only other chances, first Schulmeister's twenty-yard strike which was always going over, followed by Radmin Blazek's from similar range. From then on it was one-way traffic and should really have been a landslide.

Shooting practice began when Ifil cut in from the right and sent a left-foot effort over the bar. Then Nathan Doyle saw Svenger off his line and from 35 yards went for the audacious, but as the ball was in flight, the keeper recovered and caught well.

Ryan Jarvis was then guilty of missing three guilt-edged chances. Collecting an O'Hara pass, the Norwich forward shrugged off a challenge, which paved the way clear, but his shot from 18 yards was right at the busy number one.

Three minutes later, another chance from similar range, but again, a shot on the turn from Doyle's cross went straight down the middle and moments after, a clear strike on goal was lashed well wide.

With twelve minutes left, substitute Lee Holmes saw his guided shot from another Doyle pass cleared off the line, before he supplied for fellow replacement James Morrison to nudge wide.

Another goal looked on the cards as England continued to threaten, but the final touch wasn't coming, so it was fitting when yet another Three Lions move set Jarvis free and Svenger made the mistake to gift the second. With 69 minutes played, the Canary flew around the keeper whose momentum took him into Jarvis' legs and sent the striker sprawling. Desperate to make amends for his missing finishes earlier, he brushed himself down and stepped up to take the penalty and without hesitancy buried with ease to put John Peacock's mind on their next challenge, Slovakia at Bolton on Friday.

A well-earned victory that could and should have been by more than just the two, but the result will give them great confidence as they seek to gain a trip to Portugal.

Teams;

England
Thomas Heaton, Philip Ifil, Steven Taylor (c), Martin Cranie, Nathan Doyle, Luke Moore (Holmes, 45), Jamie O'Hara, Aaron Lennon (Morrison, 53), Grant Leadbitter, Andrew Taylor, Ryan Jarvis (Forte, 69).
Subs: Stuart Giddings, Mark Noble, James Morrison, Anthony McMahon, David Martin, Lee Holmes, Jonathan Forte

Goals: Cranie 10, Jarvis (pen) 68

Czech Republic
Milan Svenger, Michal Parys, Petr Ciganek, Michal Svec (Honka, 45) , Radim Blazek, Vlastimil Fiala (c), Pavel Malcharek, Jan Schulmeister, Petr Tomasak (Kral, 64), Ales Hanzlik, Ondrej Vorisek.
Subs: Kamil Zachoval, Ondrej Honka, Miroslav Kral, Jakub Kraus, Jan Filip  

Jamie Bradbury in Chester