12 October 2004
Peter Taylor Exclusive

   
Scott Carson Exclusive

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England Under-21s coach Peter Taylor was contented with the performance of his young charges, who did everything but score against Azerbaijan.

It is a game England would have hoped to win, having claimed maximum points from their first three games against Austria, Poland, and Wales.

But in testing circumstances Taylor was satisfied with a point, and happy to remain top of the qualifying group as he exclusively told TheFA.com for England TV.

"It’s a very difficult place to get a result because of the pitch being so difficult," he explained. "It was rock hard and bumpy.

"But saying that we had a lot of chances and I can’t believe we didn’t put one away.

"We were very unlucky not to score a couple of goals - we hit the bar and everything so we weren’t far away from scoring

"This is the experience of Under-21s. You do go to places where pitches aren’t up to the standard you’re used to. But you’ve got to get on with it – you’ve got to be positive.

"Of course we were hoping to get three points here, but a point away from home anywhere isn’t terrible."

His sentiments were supported by Scott Carson who was happy with his clean sheet despite the loss of the Under-21s' 100 per cent record.

"My aim was just to keep a clean sheet really, but we were a bit disappointed that we didn't get three points.

"To be fair the pitch wasn’t the best and we were unlucky not to get a couple of goals but one point’s better than none."