England 0-0 Hungary

Under-17 International Friendly
Preston North End FC, Deepdale
17 November 2004

John Peacock's Under-17 side played out a nil-nil draw against Hungary on Wednesday evening as they build towards the UEFA U17 European Championship, Second Round Qualifiers, which take place next year.

Despite the match remaining goalless, Peacock told TheFA.com that he was pleased with a number of aspects form a performance against a tough Hungary team. "They certainly made it difficult for us last night," said John.

"It was a good chance to pitch ourselves against decent opposition. Like us, Hungary have qualified for the second round of the UEFA qualifiers, so it shows they've got a good pedigree.

"We had far more chances to have won the game and on another day we'd have put them away. But Hungary were a good opposition for us, they were resolute and hard to break down, so in that respect it was a good work out."

When the team meets up again early next year, one area Peacock will work on with the team is their offensive play: "Perhaps we need a little bit of improvement in the attacking third," he said.

"But in I was delighted in terms of our defending, having lost our two full-backs through injury in the first half, we were forced to fill in with two midfielders playing out of position, and they did a very good job."

In the perspective of the whole season, though, the coach is pleased with how things went and says that there are positive signs as they build for the qualifiers in March.

"It gave me a chance to look at a few more players that I've not seen this year and it's always good when we can get the lads together for a few days. Last night's match rounded off a good half-year with four wins and one draw to stand us in good stead for next year," added Peacock.

"But the lads are really disappointed about only drawing last night, which is testimony to how far they've come.

"They set themselves high standards and we know we can play better than we did last night, but all in all it was a decent performance."

England U17s v Hungary, Preston, 17 November 2004

England: Patrick Gamble - Nottingham Forest, Elliot Omozusi - Fulham, Chris Riley - Tottenham Hotspur, Lewis McGugan (capt.) - Nottingham Forest, Leigh Mills - Tottenham Hotspur, James Tomkins - West Ham Utd, Jamie Davis - Tottenham Hotspur, Fabrice Muamba - Arsenal, Joe Garner - Blackburn Rovers, Scott Phelan - Everton, Myles Weston - Charlton Athletic
Subs not used: Robert Sissons - Bolton Wdrs, Zac Jones - Blackburn Rovers, Hogan Ephraim - West Ham Utd, Mark Davies - Wolverhampton Wdrs, Theo Walcott - Southampton, Ryan Woods

Attendance: 5,200.