Aidy Boothroyd praised his side’s team performance as they picked up a 5-0 victory over Bosnia & Herzegovina in their final Euro qualifier.
The England Under-21s interim boss watched the Young Lions score a fine collection of goals in Walsall to finish their qualifying group in style.
Strikes from John Swift, Tammy Abraham (2), Duncan Watmore and Josh Onomah ensured the 5000-strong crowd at the Banks’s Stadium went home happy, as the U21s now turn their attentions to next summer’s Euro Finals in Poland.
England 5-0 Bosnia & Herzegovina
UEFA European U21 Championship
Group 9 Qualifier
Tuesday 11 October 2016
Banks's Stadium, Walsall FC
Live on BT Sport
"It was a really professional performance and the fact that we kept a clean sheet I think came from the attitude and application, which was excellent," said Boothroyd.
"Some of the football we played, considering we’d made nine changes, was excellent and really entertaining and I’m really pleased that we got what we deserved in terms of a 5-0 win.
"They’re [Bosnia & Herzegovina] no mugs, they’re a good football team and we had to weather an storm early on.
"But we did that and you’ve got to do that because you can’t have it all your own way in international football.
"We dealt with it very well but from the moment we scored a goal, it was only about how many we were going to score.
"We had some great build-up play and got in some great positions so one or two of the lads will be disappointed that they didn’t do better.
"But when we played, we cut them open and caused some real problems."
It was Boothroyd’s first trip with the U21s, after Gareth Southgate had previously overseen the campaign to date and after securing qualification with a win in Kazakhstan last week, Tuesday’s game offered a chance to utilise the whole squad.
And that meant U21 debuts for the likes of Christian Walton, Isaac Hayden, Onomah and Abraham in a line-up that showed nine changes from the game in Aktobe.
"It’s great for the younger ones, like Freddie Woodman, Tammy and Josh, getting a clean sheet in Kazakhstan and then the other two scoring tonight," admitted Boothroyd.
"It makes it very competitive, and that’s the same with the U19s coming into the U20s, we’ve got some really good young players.
"We’ve seen today, given their head and a little bit of freedom, they could be a very good team."
