England 1-2 Austria
European U21 Championship Qualifier
Elland Road, Leeds
07 October 2005

Peter Taylor believes England have unearthed another gem in Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon after he made his Under-21s debut against Austria.

The Young Lions were beaten 2-1 on the night at Elland Road, leaving Taylor frustrated with some sloppy second-half defending.

But he picked out the performance of Spurs man Lennon who was hugely impressive.

Taylor said: "I saw Aaron Lennon got man of the match and I think deservedly so. The boy is a real talent and a very clever player. He’s very quick and when we got the ball to him first half I thought that was where we were going to win it.

"It’s the first time I have ever worked with him and he’s a very, very good player. He wants to keep improving. Every day that we trained he was very bright, I have to say. You would buy a season ticket to watch him play, wouldn’t you?"

Taylor was also pleased with one or two other players in what was a good display - until England lost concentration after the break, allowing Austria to score twice.

Taylor said: "Jerome Thomas did some amazingly good things on his debut and was very exciting as well.

"That’s why we’re disappointed that we’ve lost the game. It’s the first time I have been disappointed with the players’ performances because for the year and a half we’ve been together they have been fantastic.

"Unfortunately this time in the second half we were a little bit sloppy on the ball and a little bit sloppy defensively. And it was a very good centre-forward that Austria had.

"If these boys want to improve and get into the Seniors they have to learn from tonight."