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England youngsters keep qualification hopes alive in Colchester

7:43pm Tuesday 7th September 2010 in


More than 7,000 watched as England under-21s beat Lithuania 3-0 at the Weston Homes Community Stadium this afternoon.

Danny Welbeck scored twice and Marc Albrighton was also on target in the victory, which books the Young Lions' place in the play-offs for next year's European Championships in Denmark.

It is the third time an England international match has been held at the Community Stadium since its inception in 2008.

For a full match report, pictures and reaction to the England game in Colchester, see tomorrow's Gazette.

Comments(6)

Anna Key says...
3:37pm Wed 8 Sep 10

I'm sure the ground would have been full with a more sensible kick off time, I hope the FA doesn't hold this against us. I really can't understand UEFA's thinking here, why not return to the old system of the seniors and U21s playing on different nights? And if it's on the same night, why a full three and three quarters of an hour before the senior kick off?

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Boris says...
3:52pm Wed 8 Sep 10

Yes it was ridiculous timing. 5 pm could at least have ensured a full turn-out of youngsters. My grandson came out of school at 3.45 and with my wife's expert driving we reached the ground, bought our tickets and were in our seats by about 4.08 pm, but of course we missed the anthems and so forth.
It was a good game to watch, mainly because nobody hates Lithuania (do they?), and while we all support England, few of us really follow the Under-21s. We were able to enjoy the flashes of brilliance, the inept misses, and finally the goals which sent us all home happy. Even the Lithuanian fans after the game seemed happy enough.
It was as usual quiet as the grave, apart from a couple of times when the East stand chanted, but they couldn't keep it up.
In fact the crowd was nowhere near 7000. They may have sold or given away blocks of tickets, but there were great empty spaces in the West, South and East stands, and the North stand was empty. Presumably a lot of people with free tickets just didn't turn up.

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Anna Key says...
6:37pm Wed 8 Sep 10

I'm glad you had a good night Boris, or more to the point, a good afternoon. A 5 o'clock kick off would have allowed me to attend, though I'd probably have missed the first few minutes. 5.30 would have meant seeing the the anthems (which even a leftie like me considers to be an essential part of the fun of international football), and still left plenty of time to leave the ground and find a pub to watch the seniors. These later kick off times would clearly have allowed more and more people to cheer on the England youngsters.

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Boris says...
7:39pm Wed 8 Sep 10

Sorry you weren't able to bunk off work early, Anna. It must have been your selfless devotion to duty which kept you there.
Yes, the anthems are important, even though our own definitely needs new lyrics.

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Feisty CBC says...
8:41pm Wed 8 Sep 10

Would have liked to have taken my Lithuainian work pal to his first game at the home of the U's. Unfortunately (or fortunately) work pressure is more important. Silly time for the game and agree that the U21's should play on the night before the senior team. Still. will take him to see the mighty U's instead :)

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Anna Key says...
9:19pm Wed 8 Sep 10

Boris wrote:
Sorry you weren't able to bunk off work early, Anna. It must have been your selfless devotion to duty which kept you there.
Yes, the anthems are important, even though our own definitely needs new lyrics.
No, it was the clocking out machine!

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