Carsley’s Lions pass toughest test

BEAT Albania in Chesterfield on Tuesday and England’s Under 21s will have secured major tournament qualification with two games to spare, after navigating their toughest test last night. Head coach Lee Carsley had been obsessing about this one, away in the Czech Republic, for months and knew its magnitude. It now looks like a safe passage to next summer’s European Championship. England have not missed one of those since 2006. He is almost there now, England level on points with the Czechs — their only challengers in Group G — but possessing two games in hand and a better head-to-head record. ‘The build-up to this game has been since Christmas,’ Carsley said. ‘I could almost be Czech with the amount of times I’ve watched them. We’re constantly looking at the table and we’re in a strong position.’ Last night was not vintage but they did enough, controlled when threatened on the break and methodical when progressing through midfield. Curtis Jones set the tone with his harassing, while Folarin Balogun linked play expertly up front. They led after 22 minutes with a strike worthy of Gareth Southgate’s seniors by a man used to playing up there. Emile Smith Rowe’s halfvolley rasped into the top corner after he timed his trot on to the bouncing ball expertly, silencing a lively crowd. The opener owed much to Balogun’s selflessness, finding Jones, whose shot was well saved before Smith Rowe did the rest with class. ‘The idea is to get as many through to the seniors as we can,’ Carsley added. ‘Emile has put a good case forward. A quality finish and he always has the right attitude with us.’ The contest looked to be over 52 seconds after the break. Morgan Gibbs-White scampered down the right, his attempts to force a second rebounding to Jacob Ramsey, who bundled in. But England allowed the Czechs to gain ground. After a number of presentable chances, substitute Daniel Fila sumptuously curled into Josef Bursik’s far corner with three minutes left to set up a rousing finish.