England men’s U20s got their season underway on Tuesday afternoon with a 2-0 victory over Wales at St. George’s Park.
With Lee Carsley taking charge of the Young Lions for this term, the squad met up at St. George’s Park late last week to begin their preparations for both this game and next month’s U19 EURO elite round qualifiers, which were postponed in March.
And the former MU21s assistant boss will have been pleased with what he saw, following a strong team performance from the Young Lions.
It took England just over half an hour to break the deadlock, with the opener coming from Aston Villa’s Jacob Ramsey in the 33rd minute.
They quickly doubled their advantage three minutes later through Xavier Amaechi of Hamburg to go in at the break with a 2-0 lead.
It remained that way in the second half too, as Carsley took the chance to utilise his substitute’s bench and assess his options.
England ended the game with ten men too, after Taylor Harwood-Bellis came off in stoppage time following an accidental clash with goalkeeper Marcus Dewhurst.
England: 1 Luca Ashby-Hammond (Fulham), 2 Henry Lawrence (Chelsea), 3 Luke Thomas (Leicester City), 4 Taylor Harwood-Bellis (Manchester City), 5 Ajibola Alese (West Ham United), 6 Paris Maghoma (Brentford), 7 Xavier Amaechi (Hamburg), 8 Tommy Doyle (Manchester City) (c), 9 Folarin Balogun (Arsenal), 10 Jacob Ramsey (Aston Villa), 11 Anthony Gordon (Everton)
Substitutes: 13 Marcus Dewhurst (Sheffield United) for Ashby-Hammond 46’, 14 Lee Buchanan (Derby County) for Thomas 67’, 17 Morgan Whittaker (Derby County) for Maghoma 67’, 16 James Garner (Watford, loan from Manchester United) for Amaechi 67’, 18 Bobby Duncan (Derby County) for Balogun 67’, 15 Nathanael Ogbeta (Manchester City) for Lawrence 75’, 12 Cody Drameh (Leeds United) for Alese 75’
Substitute not used: 22 Carl Rushworth (Brighton & Hove Albion)
Head coach: Lee Carsley
Goals: Jacob Ramsey 33', Xavier Amaechi 36'
Wales: 1 Lewis Webb, 2 Tivonge Rushesha, 4 Sam Bowen, 5 Ryan Astley, 6 Morgan Boyes (c), 7 Sam Pearson, 9 Isaak Davies, 10 Kieron Evans, 11 Joe Adams, 14 Danny Williams, 15 Cameron Evans
Substitutes: 3 Jacob Jones, 8 Harry Pinchard, 12 Dan Barden, 16 Luca Hoole, 17 Callum Jones, 18 Rhys Hughes, 19 Iestyn Hughes, 20 Josh Thomas.
Head coach: Rob Edwards
