Portugal were hardest test so far, says Gareth Southgate

Gareth Southgate was happy with his side at Turf Moor as England Under-21s beat Portugal in their first preparation match for next summer’s Euro Finals.

The Three Lions were inspired by two goals from Burnley striker Danny Ings on his home patch against a Portuguese side who will be England’s first opponents at next June’s Euros in Czech Republic.

And Southgate was enthused by the way in which his team competed against a side who won all ten of their games during qualification.

“I’m really pleased with the performance. We thought it would be the hardest test that we’ve had and that proved to be the case,” said Southgate, after presiding over an 11th consecutive win.

“It wasn’t a game where we were able to dominate possession as we have in the past but we were able to put some good moves together and we kept the ball well at times.

“Going forward, we were a real threat and created some great chances and scored some very good goals.

Danny Ings wheels away after scoring the opener

“We had to defend, which is a scenario that we haven’t had to deal with, not just one-v-one defending, but defending as a team against clever movement and quick interchanging of play.

“We were comfortable with that in that we didn’t look panicky so we looked like we defended with authority and that was important.”

Southgate also paid tribute to Ings, who did his chances of selection next summer no harm at all with a goal in each half to give the crowd extra voice.

“You could see he was on form,” he added. “His first touch of the ball was a fantastic dribble and I thought he might scored from the cross that came from that.

“And there was good play in the build-up to his first goal.

“I thought our play was very good in the final third tonight, we’ve got pace and we can play quick combination passes as well as people who can finish from crosses as well.”