Paul Fairclough philosophical after heavy defeat in Moscow for his team.

Russia 4-0 England C
International Challenge Trophy
Group A
Tuesday 5 June 2012
Khimky Arena, Dynamo Moscow FC

England C found themselves on the end of a heavy defeat against Russia in their International Challenge Trophy clash in Moscow on Tuesday, but Manager Paul Fairclough wasn't too downbeat following the result.

It took the hosts nearly 30 minutes to break down Fairclough's charges, but once Delkin had broken the deadlock in the 27th minute, they quickly added another through Bibilov three minutes before the break.

Delkin got his second of the game ten minutes into the second half before a penalty from Smolov completed the scoring in the 81st minute.

Following the game, Fairclough was philosophical in his thoughts and said: "We were under no illusions as to the task we faced.

"We set about our game plan and it worked for 27 minutes. We almost scored and Hedge did not have a shot to save, but two bad errors undid all our good work.

"I would have been happy going in one down at half time but to go in at 2-0 down meant that we had to change things around and this allowed the Russians to expose us more as the game progressed.

"We were beaten by a quality side and we are now faced with going to Belgium in September knowing that we must win to qualify for the semi-final."