Mount makes it count on his debut
MASON MOUNT shone on his debut to fire England’s Under-21s to the brink of Euro 2019 qualification.
The Chelsea midfielder, currently on loan at Derby, set up Tammy Abraham before netting himself as the Young Lions came from behind and squeezed past Latvia.
Mount, 19, justified the decision to pick him ahead of Phil Foden and Jaden Sancho.
It leaves England needing one more point to qualify after Scotland beat Holland.
Aidy Boothroyd’s side sit six points clear at the top of the group with two games to play and seem certain to book their spot at next year’s finals when they play Andorra next month.
But it was not plain sailing at times in Jelgava yesterday.
On a poor pitch Jake Clarke-Salter and Kyle Walker-Peters were involved in a mix-up which allowed Raivis Jurkovskis to slot Latvia into a shock lead in the 28th minute.
A much-changed England team hauled themselves level five minutes before half-time as Walker-Peters made up for his earlier error.
The Tottenham defender played in Mount and his cross was met by the head of Abraham to level.
Latvia keeper Kristaps Zommers pulled off a stunning double save to keep out Dominic Solanke and Abraham in the 61st minute.
Zommers then blocked from Abraham again and Walker-Peters curled a shot just wide as the visitors went in search of a winner.
And their pressure paid off in the 73rd minute when Solanke fed Mount, who made no mistake with a low effort to put his side another step closer to next summer’s finals in Italy and San Marino. ENGLAND (4-2-3-1): Henderson; Kenny, Clarke-Salter, Tomori, Walker-Peters; Dowell, Davies; Mount, Solanke, Lookman (Sessegnon 64); Abraham (Calvert-Lewin 81) (Onomah 89). Subs: Wan-Bissaka, Cook, Fry, Konsa, Maddison, Gunn, Woodman.