Greece 1 England 1

England’s under 21’s got a point last night after drawing to Greece 1-1 after Daniel Sturridge scored a goal in the fifth-minute, sending England home with 4 points from their first two UEFA European Under 21 championship Qualifiers.

England had a good start, gaining a corner and a taking a dangerous free kick within the first two minutes of the game. Jack Wilshere was fouled by Greek captain, Vasileios Pliatsikas, a few yards outside the box and Daniel Sturridge was unfortunate not to see his powerful shot find the back of the net, the ball smashed the far upright post, went back out to James Tomkins but he was unable to keep the ball down and it went over the bar.

It wasn’t long after with just five minutes played when Danny Rose took the ball from Leonidas Argyropoulous, before sending Kyriakos Papadopoulos in circles in the area, the Spurs man squared the ball across the face of goal to where Sturridge was waiting and he sent the ball home giving England a 1-0 lead.

Greece picked up their pace after the goal and Olympiacos striker, Sotiris Ninis, looked to have leveled the score with a left-foot strike on the turn 18-yards out, however, as it low towards the bottom corner of the goal, Scott Loach was down in a good position to be able to stretch and grab the ball with one hand.

Konstantinos Mitroglou then beat the Watford goalie to a high ball forward and sent it towards the goal, but Tomkins was there to keep the Young Lions in the lead.  Sturridge was forced off the pitch with an injury and was replaced by Danny Welbeck. England had a couple of good chances, Wilshere beat the keeper with his left foot but was unlucky to see it go wide, then another shot, again by Wilshere, from close-range was saved. Tom Cleverley, on his debut, also tried his luck with a 20-yard strike, but that also went too wide.

Just before the half time whistle Greece pulled level and it was Ninis that got the goal after taking the ball into a space 25-yards from goal, he struck the ball taking a big deflection off Jack Rodwell and sending Loach the wrong way the ball rolled across the line.Ninis delivered a dangerous corner from the left where Dimitrios Siovas rose, unmarked, to head at goal. Loach prevented Greece taking the lead using his left arm to keep the ball away.

The second half started with Danny Rose playing a quick one-two with Rodwell into the Greek box, but he sent his first-time shot wide.  Mitroglou should have put Greece in front soon after, he found space and it was one-on-one with Loach, who managed to save the strike well with his foot.

Two England substitutes almost linked up to force an opening. Derby’s Miles Addison, who came on for on for Rodwell, knocked through to Freddie Sears, who was well marked but almost got free to steal the ball, the defender, though, held firm seeing it back to his ‘keeper.
At the other end Loach made another strong save, beating out yet another Nini strike after he had lost three defenders and seconds later Mitroglou could have snatched a winner. Loach hit a long ball forward which both Mancienne and Tomkins misjudged, meaning the ball was picked up by Mitroglou who once again just had Loach to beat but only found the side netting, shortly after the Greek striker was taken off and replaced with, Michail Pavlis.
Referee: Mauro Bergonzi (ITA)
Assistant Referees: Massimiliano Grilli and Massimiliano Rosi (ITA)
Fourth Official: Maurizio Ciampi (ITA)

Attendance 2,678