England 0-0 Bulgaria

UEFA European U17 Championship
Elite Qualifying Round
Barnsley
30 March 2006

A dominant England side misfired in front of goal and failed to dispatch a Bulgarian side who were blitzed 5-0 by Russia in their previous Group Seven game.

The Three Lions were camped out in the Bulgarian half for most of the game but Head Coach John Peacock will be disappointed as his team missed a hatful of chances against Bulgaria who had only one notable effort on goal.

England started the brighter with attacks down both flanks but Bulgaria were resilient at the heart of defence.

England’s most notable effort of the early stages came on five minutes when Scott Sinclair cut inside from the left of the area and shot low but Bulgarian 'keeper Ivan Karadyov did well to tip the ball round the post.

Nathan Porritt was causing the Bulgarian left-back trouble with his close control but his tame shot on eight minutes fell kindly for the 'keeper.

As England dominated, Porritt had an opportunity in the 17th minute to put The Three Lions ahead. Jake Thomson’s looping cross was met on the volley by Porritt but his effort was blocked strongly by Daniel Gramatikov.

Porritt was again involved as his 25th minute cross was put on a plate for striker Daniel Sturridge, whose header was straight at the Bulgarian number one.

Bulgaria were losing out in the midfield battle, with England captain Josh Walker and his compatriot Josh Wright putting in workmanlike performances.

With ten minutes of the half remaining Sturridge’s sublime back-flick set up Sinclair who forced a corner. Thomson took the set-piece but keeper Karadyov again thwarted England.

In the 32nd minute Sturridge took a quick free-kick but Karadyov was quick off his line to stub out any chance of a deserved goal.

With six minutes left on the clock Sturridge’s trickery again caused the Bulgarian defence problems. Thomson ran on to the Manchester City striker’s overhead flick but put the ball a foot wide of the right-hand post under pressure.

Bulgaria managed their first shot on goal less than a minute before half-time, when Mihail Aleksandrov cut in from the right and hit a curling left-foot shot straight at Tottenham 'keeper David Button.

England again started brightly in the second half when Sturridge won a free-kick on the edge of the box. Walker managed to dip the ball over the wall but it went wide of the left-hand post.

From the resulting goal kick, England broke again and Walker’s shot across the front of the goal fell to Sinclair, who hit the post from an acute angle.

England then had a penalty shout turned down by referee Kovarik. Sturridge went past three defenders and was hacked down on the by-line only for shouts from the boisterous Barnsley crowd to go unnoticed.

Three minutes later Peacock rang the changes with Febian Brandy and Jamie Chandler, who had both started Tuesday’s match against Italy, replacing Porritt and Wright.

Almost instantly Bulgarian Coach Filip Filipov responded with his own substitution. Hearts' young striker Branimir Konstadinov traded places with Aleksandrov.

With twenty minutes remaining, England remained dominant and Thomson’s cross rebounded to Sturridge but his shot was blocked. As the ball was cleared to midfield, a long ball to the left wing fell to substitute Brandy who was fouled by Konstadin Velkov.

Thomson’s free-kick though was headed wide from six yards by Sturridge, who missed his best opportunity for a breakthrough.

In the final two minutes Nardiello and Sturridge both could have given England victory. Nardiello put the ball wide of the left post after a flowing move and Sturridge’s powerful shot failed to trouble the Bulgarian 'keeper.

England meet Russia at Scunthorpe on Saturday while Italy take on Bulgaria. Both games kick-off at 3pm.

England: D Button, J Cork, C Clark, J Tomkins, R Bertrand, J Thomson, J Wright (J Chandler, 55), J Walker, N Porritt (F Brandy, 55), S Sinclair (M Nardiello, 67), D Sturridge.
Subs: B Amos, L Molyneux, M Richards, P Rodgers.

Bulgaria: I Karadyov, D Reychev, D Gramatikov, J Velkov, D Dimov, M Aleksandrov (B Konstadinov, 56) G Chakarov, I Tsachev, N Chipev (G Tanev, 79), V Petakov (T Dimitrov, 67) K Lovkov.
Subs: L Ivanov, V Ganchev, D Zlantkov, T Todorov.

Attendance: 4,225