England 1-0 Denmark

UEFA European U19 Championship, 2nd Qualifying Rd
Alexandra Stadium, Gresty Road
26 March 2005

Martin Hunter’s England Under-19s kicked off their European Championship qualifying campaign with a 1-0 win over Denmark at Crewe Alexandra’s Alexandra Stadium.

Derby County’s Lee Holmes volleyed home the only goal of the game from close range in the 26th minute after Ryan Smith hung up the perfect far post cross.

England should have had the contest beyond the Danes after enjoying the majority of possession in the first half. The hardworking Dexter Blackstock dragged a couple of efforts wide of the Kasper Schmeichel’s post after eluding the Danish back four with his pace and Southampton defender Matthew Mills should have done better with a far post header following a cross from Holmes.

A confident England side played some wonderful football at times and the wingers Holmes and Smith were great outlets throughout the 90 minutes, offering great support for Blackstock and Ipswich’s Dean Bowditch, who intelligently operated just off the lone front man. The flexibility of the system caused the Danes all sorts of problems.

The England back five, superbly protected by the tenacious Grant Leadbitter and Richard Jones restricted the Danes to just a handful of long range efforts and goalkeeper David Marsh was hardly tested in the England goal.

The Danes best effort fell to Soren Christensen early in the second half but he could only direct his header into the grateful arms of Marsh following a Brian Nielsen corner.

England did not impose themselves on the opposition as much in the second half and with just the one goal advantage there was always that niggling doubt that the Danes could have snatched an equaliser in the final 20 minutes or so.

Saying that, England did create one or two decent openings in the second half, with Smith forcing Schmeichel into a fine save following a dazzling run from his right wing position. The Arsenal winger left both captain Nicklas Svendsen and Michael Jakobsen in his wake only to strike the legs of the Manchester City youngster. It would have been some goal.

England kept their concentration at the back and Denmark offered very little in terms of clear cut chancesalthough both Leadbitter and Martin Craine bravely threw themselves in front of a shot from Lasse Qvist after a ricochet had fallen invitingly into his path.

An equaliser at that stage would have been awfully cruel on Hunter’s lads, especially after their domination in the first period. Next up is Sweden on Monday at Bury’s Gigg Lane.

After the match, England U19 Head  Coach Martin Hunter told TheFA.com: "The first game is always the most difficult, so to win and obtain a clean sheet is very pleasing. I thought we played quiet well in the first half and could have had a couple more goals to go with Lee’s.

"There is certainly room for improvement but it was a professional performance from the playersand I thought we deserved to win the game. We defended well and protected David Martin in our goal. He didn’t have to do too much but when he did, he did everything extremely well and we are delighted with the clean sheet.

"With just the one goal there is always that niggling doubt that they could go and nick an equaliser, but our concentration levels were good throughout and we looked threatening going forward, especially in the first half.

"We may have not reached those same levels in the second half but we have started with a win and that is all I can ask from the lads. We can now look forward to the Sweden game on Monday. They have had a good victory over Moldova, so that will be an interesting game for both countries at Bury."

England U19 v Denmark, Crewe, 26 March 2005

England: David Martin - MK Dons, Phil Ifil - Tottenham Hotspur, Andrew Taylor - Middlesbrough, Grant Leadbitter - Sunderland, Matthew Mills -Southampton, Martin Cranie (capt.) - Southampton, Ryan Smith - Arsenal (William Hoskins - Rotherham Utd, 88), Richard Jones - Manchester Utd, Dexter Blackstock - Southampton (Ryan Jarvis - Norwich City, 62), Dean Bowditch - Ipswich Town (Laurence Wilson - Everton, 90), Lee Holmes - Derby County

Goals: Holmes 26