England through in style

England 1-0 Austria

UEFA Under-17 Championship
Group B
Les Allées, Blois
09 May 2004

England made it three out of three on Sunday night with a one-nil win over Austria, which takes them through to the semi-final of the UEFA Championship on Wednesday as Group B winners where they will play Spain.

John Peacock's side were already assured of a place in the last four before tonight, after victories over Ukraine and Portugal, but were still determined to finish top of the group and keep their winning run intact.

It's now ten games unbeaten for England at Under-17 level, with seven wins on the bounce, and Peacock was delighted with today's performance against a well-organised Austrian outfit.

John gave us his summary of the action when we caught up with him after the match:

"In the first forty-five minutes Austria played to type," he said. 

"They allowed us to have the ball and keep possession while they looked for the chance to  counter-attack. 

"At times we perhaps wasted possession and failed to create many clear cut chances, but we also kept Austria at bay too."

John continued: "At half time I made a change, taking Kyel Reid out of the hole behind the front two and moved him out wide.

"It was his lovely cross to the far post for Levi Porter that created our goal.  Levi still had a lot to do, but he showed great technique controlling the cross and hitting a low left-foot shot into the bottom corner of the net.

"We continued to attacked and remained a threat, carving out a number of chances, and although we didn't add to the score, we were very professional with our approach, closing the game off."

England's semi-final match on Wednesday evening will be against Group A runners-up Spain.  The holders Portugal followed England out of Group B and will line up against France in the other semi. 

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