Pearce's men make their point
Adam Johnson fired home a second-half equaliser to help the England under-21 side to a 1-1 draw against Portugal in their crucial Euro 2009 qualifier in Agueda. The Middlesbrough winger, who spent the early part of the season on-loan at Watford, smashed home from close range to hand Stuart Pearce's men a well deserved point.
Pearce's day had got off to a disastrous start with both Gabriel Agbonlahor and Matt Derbyshire being ruled out of the clash through injury.
And his luck showed no signs of improving as Aston Villa's Craig Gardner produced a reckless challenge on the hosts' tricky left-winger Vierinha after only three minutes, giving the Hungarian referee no option but to point to the spot.
And Vierinha picked himself up to slam the spot kick low past Joe Hart,the first goal England have conceded in 453 minutes of competitive action in Group Three.
England improved after the break and within four minutes of the restart, Adam Johnson swept home the equaliser after Joe Mattock's long throw had deceived everyone.
The goal capped a virtuoso performance from the Middlesbrough midfielder as England took almost complete control of what had promised to be a tricky tie.
And Walcott showed superb pace and skill to beat half the Portuguese team before forcing Batista into a sprawling save on 64 minutes.
England were well on top as James Milner, winning his 35th cap for the Under-21s, then barged through on the right before sending in a cross that Johnson was inches away from converting.
Walcott was then twice unlucky to be given offside but Pearce's heroes held on to leave them six points clear at the top of Group Three, almost guaranteed a play-off to make it to Sweden in 2009.
Comments
Add a comment
Be the first to comment on this
If you are a Gambling.com member, please login at the top left of this page.
If you are not a Gambling.com member, please complete our sign up form—membership is free and it takes just a minute or two to sign up.