Villa duo rescue England - 7M sport

Villa duo rescue England



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Posted Thursday, February 10, 2011 by Supersport.com

Villa duo rescue England

Ashley Young scored his first goal for England as Fabio Capello?s side came from behind to beat Denmark 2-1 in a morale-boosting win ahead of their Euro 2012 qualifier against Wales next month.

Aston Villa player Young, recently converted from winger to striker, came off the bench to give England victory after Daniel Agger had put the Danes ahead and Young's Villa team-mate Darren Bent had equalised.

There was plenty to encourage Capello as his side showed good composure even though they had lost to France and stuttered through a frustrating draw against Macedonia in their last two games.

"I am happy with the result and the performance of some players," Capello told ITV afterwards."

"Bent played well and Ashley, it's a new position for him, but he played well too."

The Danes were excellent in the opening stages with 18-year-old Ajax star Christian Eriksen comfortably outshining 19-year-old counterpart Jack Wilshere, who was substituted at half-time following an encouraging but short-lived 45 minutes in a holding midfield role.

"Wilshere in the first half played with confidence and it was an interesting debut," Capello added.

England though grew in confidence as the match wore on and largely controlled a less dramatic second half.

The visitors could and should have gone ahead in the opening minutes of the match when goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen dived at the feet of Bent only to see the ball squirm to Wayne Rooney inside the penalty box.

But the Manchester United striker dithered over the opportunity and when he eventually shot it was cleared off the line by Mathias Jorgensen.

In a surprisingly open passage of play Denmark quickly made amends when the influential Eriksen crossed from the right and Agger, who plays his club football in England with Liverpool, got between John Terry and Michael Dawson to head home in the seventh minute.

That lead lasted only 120 seconds, however, because England replied when winger Theo Walcott turned his marker inside out in the penalty area and crossed low for Bent, given a rare chance to start up front alongside Rooney, to tap home at the far post for only his second international goal.

The chances continued to flow throughout an entertaining first half before the increasingly impressive Eriksen sent a left-foot shot thudding against Joe Hart?s left-hand post.

Hart then had to produce a makeshift save with his right boot when Dennis Rommedahl, who scored in Denmark's 4-1 victory over England in Copenhagen in 2005, sent in a fierce 38th minute effort with the visiting defence once again flat-footed.

Frank Lampard, named captain for the first time as he won his 84th cap, was denied a spectacular goal to mark the occasion when his back heel was disallowed for offside.

Left-back Ashley Cole had double reason to celebrate as he became the most-capped full-back in England?s history on his 86th appearance and then was handed the captain's armband as Capello sent on Gareth Barry, Young and Scott Parker at half-time for Wilshere, Rooney and Lampard.

Further substitutions followed for both sides as the game lost shape and impetus but Eriksen produced another moment to remember when his back-heel set up a good chance for Rommedahl.

It was England who looked mostly like to find a winner, however, with both Bent and Young going close with headers before the latter finally made his mark.

It was right-back Glen Johnson who created it, running the length of the pitch before dinking a pass inside for Young to side-foot home clinically in the 69th minute—his first goal for England on his 12th appearance.



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