England clinch win but fail to hit peaks

ANDORRA U21 ENGLAND U21

ENGLAND consolidated their place on top of their qualifying group for the 2019 Under-21 European Championship and made it two wins from two in five days with a victory in Andorra last night.

A second-half goal from Everton’s Tom Davies, his first for the U21s, proved enough to secure three points in Group 4 for the Young Lions on their trip into the Pyrenees.

Manager Aidy Boothroyd had warned in the build-up that Andorra would be no pushovers.

And he was not wrong. The hosts worked tirelessly and proved more than capable of disrupting play to frustrate and hold England at arm’s length on a difficult surface during the first half.

And after the break, goalkeeper Francisco Costa put on a masterclass to deny them further.

England will feel they could have scored more, though, and their first chance came in the early stages when a low cross from the left found Dominic Calvert-Lewin free in the six-yard box. The Everton forward lifted his shot over the bar from close range.

Kieran Dowell then tried his luck with a free-kick from the edge of the area, but after clipping his shot over the wall the ball dipped just over the bar.

But it was another Everton player who broke the deadlock in the early stages of the second half, as Davies glanced Kyle Walker-Peters’ left-wing cross past Costa.

Andorra had a flurry of chances and their best opening came when Albert Alavedra got in behind the defence and saw his low shot diverted behind.

Calvert-Lewin had the ball in the net again after helping to guide Ademola Lookman’s shot over the line but an offside flag ruled out his effort.

Lookman – another Everton player – then had a further chance to seal victory in the 82nd minute when he found space at the far post to line up a shot, only for Costa to make a remarkable recovery and keep his team in the game.

But with the clock ticking down and the home crowd urging their team to go in search of what would have been a shock draw, England were never out of their comfort zone and they saw out the game to secure the three points.