Henderson hunting more goals
Jamie Bradbury in Botosani
Monday, 11 October, 2010
Sunderland man wants emulate two goalscoring England midfielders.
Click here to watch the latest videos from the England Under-21s camp, including highlights of the first leg
After hitting his first goal for England Under-21s on Friday night, Jordan Henderson is hoping to emulate two England senior stars who have made a name for finding the back of the net.
And as the Sunderland midfielder prepares for the Three Lions’ important Euro 2011 play-off second leg against Romania today, he says he would love to score more for club and country, following in the footsteps of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, and help Stuart Pearce’s side reach the Finals in Denmark next summer.
The Liverpool man has 19 England goals in 87 games, while his Chelsea counterpart has notched one more in 83 appearances at senior level. Henderson is just 20 years old and has broken into the Under-21s set-up this season, and his first goal arrived in what was his fourth match.
Now he’s determined add to that tally, but admits, for now, the aim is to help England get the result they want in Botosani this afternoon.
“It was one of the sweetest strikes I have ever hit and such an important goal,” said Henderson recalling his dipping volley at Carrow Road that put England 1-0 up on the night.
“The performance was very promising and now we have to take that into the second leg.
“I don’t score many goals so I enjoy it when I do. I’ve only got two for Sunderland, and now one for the Under-21s. So it’s a thing that I’m working on and hopefully I’ll get a few more."
He continued: “The likes of Gerrard and Lampard come up with 15 goals a season. There are a lot of good attacking midfielders in the Premier League, you don’t get much better than those two. Their main game is scoring goals so I think it’s something I need to work on.”
In Friday’s first leg, Henderson’s effort was cancelled out by a Ioan Hora cross that deflected past keeper Frank Fielding and into the net. Manchester United defender Chris Smalling smashed in the winner with seven minutes remaining to hand England a slender advantage coming into the second leg.
“What got us through was team spirit and the crowd,” said Henderson. “And our spirit is getting stronger with every game.
“We showed a lot of patience on Friday and we have to do it again. All the lads are really up for this game.
“They counter-attacked us on Friday but today they’ll maybe come at us a little bit more and it could suit us. But we’ll have to see how the game goes and take it from there.
“Everyone of us wants to go to Denmark next summer, there is a real togetherness about this group. If we use that, we will go through.”
The match kicks off at 2.30pm local time on Tuesday, which is 12.30pm BST, and will be broadcast live on ESPN. You can also follow regular updates here or via www.twitter.com/thefadotcom.