Holland 2-2 England

UEFA Under-21 Play-Off First Leg

A night of high drama and quality in Utrecht ended all square as David Platt's England came back from a two-goal deficit to earn a draw which sets up Tuesday's second leg at Pride Park perfectly.

England captain David Dunn scored the goal of the night to equalise for England but, as Platt admitted afterwards, it had been very much a team effort that brought England back to level terms after they had fallen two goals behind.

Ironically, in the game's earliest stages, it was England who settled the quicker. Michael Carrick found his loping stride early on, spraying the ball around elegantly to calm the visitors' nerves.

Perhaps, though, there was just an element of too much belief for England who thereafter found it difficult to prevent Holland from gradually asserting their authority on the game as the first half wore on.

With the powerful and mobile Kuyt always giving Holland an option upfront, Ledley King and John Terry had their hands full and it was not without prior warning that the home side opened the scoring on 25 minutes.

Van der Meyde skipped to the touchline and pulled the ball back to Van der Vaart. The number eight, who plays his club football for Ajax, has a wand of a left foot and used it to good effect to fire the ball home past Kirkland.

To England's credit, they were not put off by conceding the first goal and came within a couple of millimetres of equalising on 35 minutes. Bridge's deep cross was met at the far post by Pennant and, though the ball struck the underside of the bar and bounced down, the referee adjudged that it had not crossed the line.

Within minutes the visitors were rueing their misfortune. Once again van der Vaart was a key player in Holland's second goal, curling a vicious free-kick onto Kirkland's post. The rebound fell to Utrecht forward Kuyt, who delighted the home fans by thrashing the ball home.

Platt told TheFA.com after the game: "in international football, especially away from home, when you go 2-0 down there is always the possibility that you will not be able to recover."

With that in mind, England can take great credit for their attitude and application as they fought their way back into this crucial European Championship play-off.

Timing, too, played a part and Sean Davis' strike on the brink of half-time gave England the perfect fillip to head into the break.

Jermaine Pennant, on a typically weaving run, was unceremoniously brought down on the right hand edge of the area. The quality of Carrick's set-piece meant that, once Sean Davis had beaten his man to the header at the near post, the ball was only ever going to arrow home.

Inspired by their own comeback, England began the second half at top speed and never lessened the pace until the final whistle.

With Ameobi, on for the injured Christie, causing the Dutch defence different kinds of problems with his height and skill, England always looked capable of making the vital second breakthrough.

That they did in the 57th minute came as no surprise, but the quality of David Dunn's strike burned bright on a crisp, cold night in Utrecht.

Picking the ball up just inside the Holland half, the Blackburn midfielder picked up speed and momentum, as he jinked past four defenders on his way into the box.

"When he gets into those kind of positions, you expect him to score," reflected Platt, and the skipper did not let his coach down, rolling the ball home off the post.

Holland coach, Mark Wotte, saw the strike slightly differently, opining that "a goal like that should never happen in international football&five defenders, and no one gets in a tackle."

But the speed and directness of Dunn's run meant that he was past most of those defenders before they had the chance to make the challenge that their coach expected.

England had chances to register a third - most notably through Dunn again following good interplay between himself and Defoe, but in the end they had to happy with the two.

David Platt admitted to being a little disappointed not to have gone on to win the game once they had come back from two-nil down. However, with another 90 minutes of this play-off still to come at Pride Park on Tuesday night, Platt and his players can now set their minds to ensuring they finish off the job on home turf on Tuesday night.

England: Kirkland, Young, Bridge, Carrick, Terry (Barry), King, Pennant, Davis, Dunn, Christie (Ameobi), Defoe, Dunn (Capt.)

Holland: Rouwelaar, da Silva, Nieuwstadt, Knol, Bosschaart, van der Schaaf, van der Meyde, van der Vaart, Kuyt, Hersi, Ax

Referee: Paulo Manuel Gomes Costa