Hart hails heroes

2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualifier
9pm, Tuesday 20 November 2007
Agueda, Portugal

Following England Under-21s 1-1 draw in Portugal on Tuesday, Joe Hart was in a very positive frame of mind, despite having conceded his first goal in competitive action for the Three Lions.

Hart was playing in his ninth game for Stuart Pearce's men, as they travelled to Agueda for a game that could have seen them all but through to the Euro 2009 play-offs.

However, a third minute penalty scored by Portuguese winger Vieirinha gave England a mountain to climb, but Hart was delighted to see the new faces perform heroically to earn a point, and almost take all three, as England remained six points clear at the summit.

"People have been coming through like heroes for us, players like Joe Mattock, 17 years old, joining up and playing in his first two games, he was different class. It took him ten minutes to settle down against Bulgaria but he dug in and has been very good.

"Adam Johnson got his chance, with Gabby injured. He looked good all game and made a massive contribution with an important goal.

"When you see players come in who are hungry to progress it gives you a boost."

The Manchester City 'keeper has been one of those players hungry to progress himself. He made his debut as a substitute against Spain in February and was part of the Under-21s squad at the UEFA Championships in Holland.

This season, he has been in fine form featuring in every minute of the Group Three campaign so far. Before the visit to Agueda on Tuesday, the only player to have scored past England with Hart in goal was himself. A Romanian free-kick rebounding off the bar and his back before rolling over the line in the 1-1 August friendly.

Even seeing the first number appear in the goals against column on Tuesday, Hart remained positive following an otherwise enjoyable start to the season.

"He didn't seem to hit the penalty cleanly and it went along the floor,” said Hart. “But unfortunately it had just enough to go under my arm.

"The way we played shows we got strength in depth. After going a goal down so early it could have affected us, but we kept going and got back in the game.

"But I've just been enjoying it. Getting the chance to play regularly it gives you confidence and can only help you develop as a player.

"Over the two games we've performed well. We won on Friday and then came out to Portugal and got a draw with a different side."

He added: "It was a very good result for us, and we could have won it."

Portugal
1 Ricardo Batista, 3 Nuno André Coelho, 5 Antunes, 15 Gonçalo Brandão, 13 Vasco Fernandes, 6 Paulo Machado, 8 Pelé (18 Celestino, 66), 10 João Moutinho (c), 7 Vieirinha (14 Bruno Pereirinha, 77), 9 João Moreira (20 Tiago Targino, 46), 19 Carlos Saleiro
Subs not used 12 Rui Patrício, 2 Stelvio Cruz, 4 Bruno Pinheiro, 11 Hélder Barbosa
Coach Rui Cacador

Bookings None

England
1 Joe Hart, 2 Craig Gardner, 3 Joe Mattock, 4 Lee Cattermole, 5 Steven Taylor (c) (14 Michael Mancienne, 46), 6 David Wheater, 7 James Milner, 8 Tom Huddlestone, 9 Adam Johnson, 10 Fabrice Muamba, 11 Theo Walcott
Subs not used 12 Matt Connolly, 13 Ben Alnwick, 15 Grant Leadbitter, 16 Andrew Surman, 17 Richard Stearman, 18 Ishmael Miller
Coach Stuart Pearce

Bookings S Taylor 13; Muamba 37; Walcott 81

Officials (all Hungary)
Referee Istvan Vad
Assistants Peter Hegyi and Peter Berettyán 
Fourth official Roland Veizer

Attendance 5,468