Johnny and Zico earn England C caps in Nepal win
Slough Town's Johnny Goddard and Maidenhead United's Zico Asare earned their first international caps on Bank Holiday Monday as England C claimed a comfortable 2-0 win over Nepal at Aldershot.
Both players were called up for Paul Fairclough's Non League Lions' squad after impressive seasons for their clubs, and Goddard was handed a start at the EBB Stadium.
Having scored 19 goals in all competitions for the Rebels this season, Goddard was thrown straight into the Lions' den so to speak, and he played his part in a dominant opening spell which saw England score twice through Nicke Kabamba and Callum Stead.
Goddard was replaced just before the hour mark by Aldershot Town's Tyler Frost, and at the same time, Asare was given his first taste of international football as a substitute for Stead. Despite the weather, a large crowd turned out to see the Non League Lions in action, and they took a firm grip on the clash inside the opening 15 minutes.
A smart header from the former Burnham player Kabamba gave England the lead in the seventh minute. Goddard played his part in the move down the left-hand side with Ollie Harfield crossing for Kabamba to head home.
There was no let up for Nepal as England doubled their lead in the 13th minute. A corner wasn't dealt with by the visitors and Stead fired home to make it 2-0.
England continued to press forward, with Jack Payne and Goddard both having attempts which required strong saves from the Blue Tigers' goalkeeper Limbu.
Nepal came close to halving the deficit in the second half when Karki created an opportunity for Bista, but he could only fire straight at substitute goalkeeper Elliott Justham.
Dangi later dug out a great cross for Karki, but the striker's header clipped the crossbar.
The fixture was played during a visit from the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) to help raise the profile of football to the Nepalese community in England and increase participation from the wider South Asian communities. They will now turn their attention to upcoming World Cup qualifiers against the U.A.E and Yemen.