England 3-0 Denmark

UEFA Under-19 European Championship
Second Qualifying Round
30 April 2004
Kidricevo, Slovenia

In a game they knew they must win, England Under 19s defeated Denmark 3-0 in Slovenia on Friday afternoon, to ensure that their hopes of a place in this summer's UEFA European Championships remain alive.

England got off to the perfect start when Dexter Blackstock of Southampton opened the scoring after three minutes with a firm header. Having already lost their opening fixture, Danish heads dropped, as the young Lions bossed the majority of possession.

Dick Bate's 4-3-3 formation meant that Denmark could not cope with the movement of the England players, and the presence of Ian Henderson noticeably added to the attacking options of Bate's side.

Denmark manfully tried to keep the Lions at bay, but on 27 minutes, Norwich City's Ryan Jarvis ran on to a perfect through ball, held off the challenge of his marker, and finished cooly to double England's lead.

Henderson made it 3-0 on 38 minutes with another top-class finish after another through-ball had cut open the Danish backline, and at that point, the Lions looked rampant.

To Denmark's credit, they came out after the interval and threw everything they had at England. The defence marshalled by David Raven (Liverpool) and Pat Collins (Sunderland) found themselves suddenly repelling a wave of Denmark attacks, and Middlesbrough's Ross Turnbull had to be alert to pull off one first-class save halfway through the second period.

The coaching staff will now be watching the game between Slovenia and the Ukraine with interest, ahead of England's final game against the Ukraine on Sunday afternoon.

Head Coach Dick Bate told TheFA.com: "We started well with a high tempo, and the boys knew what they had to do. They showed the appropriate attitude that the coaches asked of all the players, and their response was first class."

Match Details

Denmark: Ambrosen, Absalonsen, Bernburg, Brandrup, Tørnes, Cagara, Fetai, Jakobsen, Jørgensen, Lorentzen, Zimling

England: Ross Turnbull, James Biggins, Stuart Giddings, Ross Gardner, David Raven, Pat Collins, Scott Brown, Ryan Jarvis, Stacy Long, Dexter Blackstock, Ian Henderson

Goals: Blackstock 3, Jarvis 27, Henderson 38

Referee: Harry Ehing (Germany)