England U21s in comfortable win over Welsh counterparts
Theo Walcott was the star of the show
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Thursday, 15, May 2008 09:53
Arsenal winger Theo Walcott starred for England U21s as they cruised to a 2-0 win over Wales U21s at the Racecourse Ground.
Walcott, who gave the Welsh defence problems all night with his pace and trickery, scored the second goal to add to a penalty from Tottenham midfielder Tom Huddlestone.
With England coach Fabio Capello watching the game from the stands, U21s manager Stuart Pearce decided to start with the likes of Joe Hart, David Wheater, Gabriel Agbonlahor, and Walcott who could all be in the senior squad for the friendlies against USA and Trinidad and Tobago.
Manchester City goalkeeper Hart has been backed for a senior call-up by his club manager Sven Goran Eriksson for much of the season and he did his chances no harm as he made a good early save from Ched Evans.
England took the lead after just 19 minutes when Middlesbrough winger Adam Johnson was brought down in the penalty area by Neal Eardley. The calm presence of Huddlestone stepped up to send Wales keeper Wayne Hennessey the wrong way.
Huddlestone was involved in the second goal only seven minutes later. He exchanged passes with Walcott from a short corner and the Arsenal star struck a shot from the edge of the box which took a slight deflection and whistled into the net.
The second-half was played at walking pace and the closest effort on goal came from Wales. An Andrew Taylor effort from a Shaun MacDonald cross smashed off the bar, but there were no further chances to speak of in the second-half.