England 1-0 France

Under-19 International Friendly
Oakwell Stadium, Barnsley
18 November 2004

Martin Hunter’s Young Lions mastered difficult conditions to beat their French counterparts at Barnsley’s Oakwell ground last night.

A fine first-half strike from Derby County’s Lee Holmes was enough to give England victory in a warm-up game for next year’s UEFA Under-19 Championship qualifiers.

A snowfall in South Yorkshire made for a far from ideal playing surface and meant that goalscoring opportunities were at a premium.

England forced several corners early on which came to nothing whilst Phil Ifil caught the eye with some good challenges as the hosts kept France at bay.

The visitors were restricted to a long-range effort from Florian Marange which was well off-target before England took the lead.

Holmes broke the deadlock on 27 minutes with a superb effort from distance which beat 'keeper Hugo Lloris diving to his right.

Holmes played a fine through ball to James Morrison towards the end of the half, forcing Lloris to race out of his area and block with his legs.

Coach Hunter made four substitutions at the break, sending on Andrew Taylor, Grant Leadbitter, Aaron Lennon and Matt Fryatt in place of Stuart Giddings, Tom Huddlestone, James Morrison and Dean Bowditch.

Taylor was soon involved, sending a shot wide soon after the re-start.

England survived a scare in the 70th minute, when Olivier Nsiambanfunu’s shot was touched onto the bar by David Martin after the defence failed to clear a free-kick floated in from the left wing.

France substitute Rudy Carlier then tested Martin with a long-effort shot. Carlier also had another effort charged down.

England were forced to play for the last few minutes with ten men after Ifil had been sent off. He pulled an opponent back and received a second yellow card.

Nsiambanfunu saw his shot blocked inside the area and England held on to win.

Match-winner Holmes said: "I only seem to score top goals for England but it's a great feeling to score.

"There is a great belief amongst the players and we believe that we can go places and that we are in with a great chance when we play in the UEFA group coming up.

"If you ask anyone of the players, our aim is to play for England at the highest level. Hopefully in a couple of years time some of us are challenging to play at the top level."

England 1-0 France, International Friendly, 18 November 2004

England: David Martin - MK Dons, Phil Ifil - Tottenham Hotspur, Stuart Giddings - Coventry City (Andrew Taylor - Middlesbrough, 46), Tom Huddlestone - Derby County (Grant Leadbitter - Sunderland, 46), Matt Mills - Southampton, Martin Cranie - Southampton, James Morrison - Middlesbrough (Aaron Lennon - Leeds United, 46), Ritchard Jones - Manchester United, Ryan Jarvis - Norwich City (Laurence Wilson - Everton, 81), Dean Bowditch - Ipswich Town (Matt Fryatt - Walsall, 46)
Subs not used: Matthew Bates - Middlesbrough, Carl Ikeme - Wolverhampton Wanderers

Goals: Holmes 27

France: Hugo Lloris, Mourad Benhamida, Cedric Cambon, Vasiriki Diaby, Garra Dembele, Yohan Cabaye (Olivier Nsiambanfunu 69), Florian Marange, Toufik Zerara (Rudy Carlier 57), Arnaud Lescure, Sylvian Marveaux, Frederic Boszak (Djamel Abdoun 69)
Subs not used: Thomas Deruda, Geoffrey Jourdren

Referee: NS Miller

Attendance: 8,883