James Henry is hoping to have plenty of friends and family present at the County Ground on Tuesday.
England v Croatia
International U19 Friendly
7pm, Tuesday 5 February 2008
County Ground, Swindon Town FC
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Ticket Hotline - 0871 223 2300
It is going to be something of a mini homecoming for one Young Lion this evening, as the England U19 team take on their Croatian counterparts at Swindon Town’s County Ground.
James Henry hails from just a few miles further down the M4 in Reading, so the game represents a chance for all of his friends and family to come along and see him in action.
With Brian Eastick’s team having played in Germany last November and then at venues such as Doncaster Rovers, Scunthorpe United, Barnsley and Notts County, it hasn’t always been easy for Henry’s nearest and dearest to attend.
That is all set to change on Tuesday night though and there should be a sizeable contingent supporting the winger in Wiltshire.
"I grew up quite locally in Reading, not far from Swindon, so this will be a nice occasion for me tonight," admitted Henry, who is currently on loan at Norwich City from his parent club Reading.
"The qualifiers in October were all up in the north so not many members of my family were able to come and watch, hopefully this time it will be different. If I'm involved hopefully I can show them what I'm about."
Tuesday’s match is a friendly game ahead of the next set of qualifiers in May and with over 9000 supporters expected to be at the County Ground, it is all a good experience for the young players with a number of them new to the U19 squad after making the step-up from the U17s.
"It was nice to see four or five thousand turn up at all of the games to support the younger England teams,” added Henry, who made his debut for Norwich in last weekend’s Championship win over Preston North End.
“Obviously that's what every young player wants; to play in front of bigger crowds."
England will face opposition from Serbia, Belarus and Poland in May, as they look to qualify for the European Championship Finals which will be held in the Czech Republic in the summer.
The Young Lions picked up impressive wins against Iceland, Romania and Belgium last October in the first qualifying stage and Henry believes that the squad are going into the next set of games in good mood.
"I think everyone's going to be fairly confident, obviously there are no teams at international level that are easy to play against, but we have started this season well and we need to continue that,” he explained.
"We began strongly with the win against Belarus, and we performed well in the qualifiers and we have to carry that through."
Charter Standard clubs can claim up to 50 free tickets while group bookings are just 50p per person for parties of 15 or more.
Ground admission costs just £3 for adults in advance (£5 on the day) and £1 for concessions.
Ticket Hotline - 0871 223 2300