England 3-1 Ukraine

International Under 21 Friendly
Riverside Stadium
17 August 2004

Carlton Cole scored his first goals for England Under-21s as the new Peter Taylor era started with a 3-1 win over Ukraine.

Sven-Goran Eriksson and his coaching team Steve McClaren, Tord Grip and Sammy Lee were at The Riverside to see the England youngsters turn in an impressive performance before they start their European Championship qualifying campaign against Austria in a fortnight.

And nobody was more impressive than 20-year-old Cole, who scored twice in the opening 45 minutes before making way to give Dean Ashton a run-out.

Cole had told TheFA.com in an exclusive interview earlier this week that he was "gagging to score his first England goal".

The Chelsea striker, on loan to Aston Villa this season, had to wait less than quarter of an hour to realise his ambition – thumping in a great finish after Jermaine Pennant had stretched the Ukranians defence.

He scored again before the interval and though Ukraine pulled a goal back in the 88th minute, sub Darren Bent restored England's two-goal advantage with virtually the last kick of the game.

England’s Under-21s had won all three of their previous matches at The Riverside, scoring 13 goals in the process.

Taylor’s attacking line-up certainly promised thrills and the Teesside crowd gave local hero Stewart Downing of Middlesbrough a particularly loud welcome before kick off.

The first encouraging link-up between strikers Jonathan Stead and Cole arrived after only six minutes, with the Blackburn man’s first touch releasing Cole, who hurdled past two challenges before succumbing to the third.

The Ukrainian squad included nine players from their most famous club Dynamo Kyiv, whose renowned strikeforce a few years ago was Andriy Shevchenko and Sergei Rebrov.

So it was little surprise that the team from Eastern Europe were well-marshaled with good technical ability.

However, it was England who did most of the early pressing and James Milner wasn’t too far away with a rising shot from 25 yards in the 10th minute.

Stead should have broken the deadlock two minutes later when he was sent clean through by Pennant. The No.10 picked his spot and placed a right-foot finish past goalkeeper Yevgen Shyryayev but it also missed the far post by a couple of inches.

Pennant’s pace was a constant threat and it paid dividends after 13 minutes.

He whipped in a cross from the right and when the ball was half-cleared by Oleg Karamushka to Cole, he thumped home emphatically with his right foot from eight yards.

It was the 20-year-old’s second goal of the season, following on from his spectacular effort for Aston Villa at the weekend. And his first for England Under-21s in his seventh appearance.

Cole headed at Shyryayev when well-placed to score his second goal as England dominated save for one shot by Dmytro Vorobey that hit Scott Carson’s side-netting and a close free-kick fired in by Andriy Oberemko.

At the other end, Milner fired narrowly across goal after a nice lay-off by Stead midway through the first half. The energetic Pennant then whipped in another dangerous centre that stretched the visitors defence. Cole also missed the target from a few yards as he lost his marker yet again.

Just as Carson might have been tempted to doze off such was England’s dominance, the yellow-shirted Ukraine side mounted their best attack.

Vorobey got behind the England defence and his shot from eight yards was blocked by Carson’s chest as the goalkeeper came out to narrow the angle.

Cole got his second goal three minutes before the interval and it was a real predator’s effort.

Downing did well to get a cross in from the left-hand side and Cole, off-balance to begin with turned sharply to hook the ball over the line from close-range.

Taylor made four changes at half-time, sending on full-backs Justin Hoyte and Daniel Harding as well as Peter Whittingham and Dean Ashton.

Strikers Stead and Cole, who both played in the Premiership on Saturday, withdrew and after an hour James Milner followed them off the pitch, with Ipswich’s Darren Bent forming a new partnership up front with Ashton.

Predictably, it took the new look England side some time to gel but Taylor’s new skipper Gary O’Neil was a steadying influence in midfield.

Downing continued to supply a steady stream of crosses from the left-hand side, and got an enthusiastic cheer when he was replaced by West Ham’s Nigel Reo-Coker.

Ukraine desperately wanted to score and Carson was the busier keeper for times in the second half. He made a wonderful double save from Adrian Pukanych to preserve his chances of a shut-out with England’s defence all at sea for once.

The visitors did score a consolation though two minutes from the end when sub Oleksandr Aliyev took advantage of a retreating defence to shoot past Carson from the edge of the area.

But there was time for England to restore their two-goal advantage.

Whittingham pulled the ball back from an acute angle and Bent had a simple tap-in for his third goal in six internationals.

It was a satisfactory end to a satisfactory night for Taylor, who was England Under-21 manager between 1996 and 1999 and whose overall record in that position now stands at three defeats in 24 games.

Team Details

England: Carson (Leeds): Hunt (Bolton), Ferdinand (West Ham), Kilgallon (Leeds), Richards (Ipswich); Pennant (Arsenal), O’Neil (Portsmouth), Milner (Newcastle), Downing (Middlesbrough); Cole (on loan Aston Villa), Stead(Blackburn)
Substitutions: Hoyte (Arsenal) for Hunt 45, Harding (Brighton) for Richards 45, Whittingham (Aston Villa) for Stead 45, Ashton (Crewe) for Cole 45, Bent(Ipswich) for Milner 60, Reo-Coker (West Ham) for Downing 71

Goals: Cole 13, 42, Bent 90

Ukraine: Shyryavev: Karmushka, Cheberyachko, Yatsenko, Ischenko; Milevskyy, Golaydo, Samborskyy, Oberemko, Vorobey, Pivnenko
Substitutions: Prohsyn for Karamushka 45, Pukanych for Samburskyy 45, Aliyev for Pivnenko (65)

Goals: Aliyev 87