England 1-0 Holland (England win 3-2 on aggregate)

UEFA Under-21 Play-Off Second Leg

A crucial and extremely hard fought England victory at Pride Park earned England their place in next summer's European Championship Finals.

After the excitement, drama, and entertainment of the first game in Utrecht, the second leg was a far tighter affair with England only narrowly finding their way to victory against a strong (in every sense of the word) side from Holland.

The game was decided by an instinctive close-range jabbed finish from Michael Carrick after 72 minutes but the contribution of England goalkeeper, Chris Kirkland, was arguably the most significant of all the young lions in front of a packed house at Pride Park.

Victorious England coach David Platt was generous enough to admit that Holland perhaps deserved something from the game and certainly on a freezing night in Derby it was the visitors who warmed to their task first.

With the hugely gifted Ajax prodigy, van der Vaart, pulling all the strings in midfield, and with King and Bridge denied space to provide attacking intent from the back, Holland had a monopoly of both possession and chances in the first half.

The home side were rescued by a fine sprawling save from Kirkland on 17 minutes after Patrick Ax had got away down the left with a neat one-two before firing in a shot which had seemed destined for the bottom corner.

With such a big prize at stake, England needed to raise their game in the second half and that they did - coming out to play in a far more hungry and sprightly fashion after the break. Yet it was Holland who had arguably the game's best chance after 47 minutes when van der Vaart met Ax's cross with a firm side foot shot from the edge of the area which Kirkland somehow managed to save despite the fact that his initial reflexes had seen him dive the other way.

As the second half continued, England increasingly began to find their stride and the winning goal, when it came, was a great combination of skill and anticipation.

Greening, on as a substitute, was the architect, drawing two defenders to him, before slipping the ball into Ameobi who was tight to the touchline. The Newcastle United striker who, until that point had been relatively quiet, then produced a turn so acute and swift that the entire Dutch defence was caught flat-footed as he cut a perfect drive back across goal which needed only a touch to be converted.

Michael Carrick was more than happy to oblige and, with the cushion of two away goals behind them as well, the strike seemed to assure England's aggregate victory.

However, the Dutch had not yet finsihed and there was still time for Kirkland to twice deny Boussaboun - the second with an astonishing leap to his left - but England hung on to book their place among the top eight nations in Europe who will contest next summer's finals.

And, now that they are there, coach David Platt believes that his players can think realistically about going all the way.

"With the players we have available, I believe we can win this tournament," Platt told TheFA.com after the game.

"From the day I took the job I believed we could get through because of the names that we have at our disposal," he continued. "There is huge talent there and I have to trust it.

"The difficult thing now will be cutting my squad for the finals down to just 20."

As for tonight's hero, Chris Kirkland, he was circumspect in his glory.

"All the lads did their job so I did mine too," said the quietly spoken Liverpool giant.

If he does his job next summer as well as he did tonight, England will have the most solid of foundations upon which to build the success that their collective talent merits.

England U21: Kirkland, Wright, Bridge, Terry, King, Carrick, Davis, Dunn, Pennant (Greening 67), Ameobi, Defoe.
Subs Not Used: Barry, Chadwick, Parker, Prutton, Wilson, Robinson.
Booked: Greening.

Holland U21: Rouwellar, Heitinga, van Nieuwstadt, Knol, Bosschaart, van der Schaaf, Boussaboun, Zonneveld (Denneboom 71), Kuyt, van der Vaart, Ax (Hersi 82)
Subs Not Used: Wisgerhof, Mathijssen, Mendes Da Silva, de Graaf, de Vries.
Booked: Heitinga, van der Schaaf, van Nieuwstadt.

Att: 32,418
Ref: V Hrinak (Slovakia)