England’s quest to qualify for the UEFA Regions Cup got off to the best possible start with this hard earned win against Romania.
Represented by the West Yorkshire League, England showed plenty of Yorkshire grit to recover from the early blow of conceding a soft penalty and ran out as deserved 2-1 winners.
Romania 1-2 England
UEFA Regions Cup
Intermediate Round
Tuesday 20 September 2016
Bucharest, Romania
By Andrew Hailwood
John Flynn’s team have been on an 18-month journey to reach this stage of the competition, having won The FA Inter League Cup (for National League System Step 7 Leagues) last season to qualify to represent England.
And the additional preparation and training they have done since qualification served them well in Tuesday's game, as they started with a high tempo and cast iron discipline which they maintained, despite Romania taking the lead after just six minutes.
They were rewarded with an equaliser when Tom Greaves rose unchallenged to nod home a corner and from that moment on, the half belonged to the White Rose lads as they played intelligent and mature football in atrocious weather conditions.
They carved out two more glorious opportunities for Day and Jackson, before the latter’s sublime trick induced a clumsy foul in the penalty area. Barry Frankland stepped up to drive home the resulting spot kick and send England in 2-1 up at the break.
The second half was a scrappier game with few chances and a spate of bookings for both teams. Inevitably. the England goal came under greater pressure from the hosts in the final 15 minutes, but the Romanians failed to create a single clear cut opportunity as the England defence stood firm.
This excellent result puts England in great heart for their next test against Serbia on Thursday.
England: Kerr, Maynard, Dutson, Greaves, Fennell (O’Neil on 85), Day, Crawford, Payne, Jackson (Cunningham on 79), Moon, Frankland (Jeavons on 62). Subs Unused Gardiner, Graham, Nolan, Dixon.
