Eastick's analysis.
Wednesday, 12 August, 2009
U20s Head Coach looks back on Tuesday's 5-0 win at the Hawthorns.
Nicholas Veevers
England U20s found the goal-den touch in their final match before September’s World Cup, by hitting five goals against Montenegro on Tuesday evening.
Two goals apiece for Manchester United pair Febian Brandy and Tom Cleverley and another strike from Bolton hitman Tope Obadeyi ensured the Young Lions can head to Egypt next month with plenty of confidence and Head Coach Brian Eastick was pleased with the display.
“It was a good win,” he admitted.
“5-0 looks as if it was a walk in the park but that wasn’t the case at all.
“Particularly in the second half, Montenegro pressed us quite early and made life quite difficult for us but I think that when we moved the ball quickly as we did at times, we played some really good football and scored some really good goals.”
England generally dominated the game, enjoying the vast majority of the possession and chances, so the victory could quite easily have been more emphatic.
Goalkeeper Declan Rudd still had to make a couple of saves though and Eastick was pleased with his team’s ‘game management’.
“The tempo that we played with and the way the players used the ball really pleased me,” he added.
“We spoke at half time about how they would come out and play for pride and they did that, but the third goal took the sting out of them.
“The substitutions in the second half obviously slow things down, but we got another two goals late on and we just hope we can take this form to Egypt now.”