Michael Symons (UWE Hartpury and Cirencester Town), Andy Rushbury (Nottingham Trent and Belper Town), Ashley Allanson (Hull and Farsley Celtic) and Will Morford (UWE Hartpury and Gloucester City) all found the net as the side look towards next summer’s WUG in Belgrade.

English Universities Head Coach, James Ellis, commented: “The 4-2 win was a fair reflection of the game as we dominated large parts of it and scored some tremendous goals.

“There were some notable performances but it would be unfair to single players out as they all responded to what was asked of them and we were very pleased,” said Ellis who also coaches at Conference North club Nuneaton Borough.

University footballers are no strangers to the professional game either with six players breaking through in the last two years, the most recent being former Loughborough University student Leon McSweeney who has recently signed a two year deal with Stockport County.

English Universities Team Manager, Steve Sharman, added: "This programme has moved on leaps and bounds in the last nine months and the players have done really well.

“We’re really pleased with the continued buy in from people within the sector and we had eight members of football staff at the game to ensure the players were part of an excellent product."

The British University Games is up next for the English Universities squad with an 18-man squad travelling to Scotland in April.

The English Universities Women’s side will also be travelling north of the border for the BUG event and last week saw 33 players take part in a training camp at Warwick University.

FA Coach, Keith Blunt, who worked at Lilleshall with the likes of Michael Owen and Joe Cole, ran the sessions which included players from across the country plus Women’s Premier League outfit, Liverpool Ladies.

British Universities Football Development Manager, George Carney, commented: “The standard of players was good and their professional approach was a credit to their institutions and the clubs they represented.”

The team meet up for another training camp next week with a fixture against the British College side pencilled in for March 5.