England under-21s go down to classy French
Stuart Pearce unable to inspire his side against France
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Tuesday, 31, Mar 2009 10:10
A below-par England under-21 side fall to a 2-0 defeat against their French counterparts at the City Ground.
France had the first real chance of the game after some neat passes found Liverpool striker David Ngog who had a free run on the England goal, but his low effort was well-saved low down by Joe Hart. The Manchester City keeper then got up quickly to save from Gabriel Obertan.
David Wheater and Nedum Onuoha were caught ball watching and Ngog ghosted in between them, but saw his attempted lob once again pushed away by Hart.
England made a sluggish start and the only real chance they had early on fell to on loan Olympiacos striker Matt Derbyshire, but he could only poke wide from close range after an excellent cross into the danger area from James Milner.
It was France, however, who took a deserved lead as the England defence failed to clear the ball from the danger area and Obertan bundled the ball in.
The visitors doubled their lead after 35 minutes as a poor attempted clearance from Wheater fell straight to Moussa Sissoko and he raced through and lifted the ball over Hart.
England could have fallen further behind if it had not been for the brilliance of out-of-favour City keeper Hart. The 21-year-old saved expertly with his legs from a Younousse Sankhare shot and the ball then deflected off Onuoha and went wide.
Stuart Pearce tried to liven his side up by bringing on the likes of Jamie O'Hara, debutant Jack Rodwell and Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck.
But England were unable to breach the France defence and their only decent effort of the second-half came through an Adam Johnson free-kick which went just over the bar.