'We showed our team ethic'
Friday, 07 October, 2011
Pearce happy with away win and clean sheet in Iceland.
by Jamie Bradbury in Reykjavik
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Stuart Pearce was pleased with his Under-21s team’s performance away in Reykjavik on Thursday night as they picked up a second win in their UEFA Euro 2013 Qualifying campaign.
A hat-trick from Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain separated the two sides, while the Coach was also happy to see England keep a clean sheet.
However, hamstring injuries to Nathan Delfouneso and Martyn Waghorn dampened the mood for Pearce as he now prepares his squad for the trip to Norway for their third Group 8 match on Monday.
“Three goals away from home here in Iceland, and a clean sheet, so I’m very pleased with the result and a couple of performances within that. We did pick up a couple of injuries but we’ll address that,” said Pearce after the game.
“One thing that underpins us is a team ethic, and I think we showed that. I thought we got a little complacent during a twenty spell before half-time where we lost our way a little bit, we didn’t want to do the dirty stuff because we’d got a couple of goals.
"But we spoke about that at half-time and they came out and played more like they should have done. We just told them to maximise their potential rather than play within themselves.”
Pearce also had a good things to say about winger Chamberlain, who hit his first two goals for the Under-21s in a two minute spell inside the first 15 minutes before collecting the match ball for number three early in the second half.
“Alex Chamberlain was outstanding tonight,” admitted Pearce. “He’s a real talent and gave us that cutting edge. He’s a team-member as well, his general all-round performance was very, very good.
“He’s a talented boy who has come on in leaps and bounds since we had him with us at the back end of last season, which is very pleasing.
“Alex is very level-headed, but you have to say that anyone scoring a hat-trick on international duty has done very well and it’s very pleasing for any manager.”
For tickets for England's next home game against Iceland at Colchester United on 10 November, click here for ticket details.