Lundstram Scores In England U 19 Win

John Lundstram scored England U19's opener last night as they beat France 2-1 to finish top of their group in the European Championships in Estonia.

Ross Barkley never made it off the bench but both Luke Garbutt and Hallam Hope came on as second half substitutes. It was a great result for the U19's having drawn with Croatia in the opening game then beaten Serbia 2-1.

John Lundstram scored a belter from 20 yards to open the scoring on 16 minutes, the French equalised on the half hour before Harry Kane put England in front seven minutes later. England held on to claim top spot in their group.

Boss Noel Blake said: 'It was a very tough game, France had a lot of the ball up until our back-line to a certain extent but I also thought we played some really good football too, especially in the first half.'

'We had a game plan on what to do without the ball and the players executed that to the letter. They like to play that big, diagonal ball and they do it very well so that caused us the most trouble. But the objective is to keep the ball out of your net and we've only conceded one goal, which I felt we really should have dealt with from our point of view.'

'That said, I can't fault the lads for effort, work ethic and discipline, which was terrific and the tackling was very good, very clean.'

'Without the ball, I thought we did really well. With the ball, I was quite pleased at times and we created some good chances on the counter attack. We all know in international football, you're not always going to dominate possession. They did it today and we've done it in the past this season. But we scored two very good goals.'

'With the stage of the season that we're at, the lads are still in their pre-season so this is still preparation time for them back at their clubs.'

'When you're asking players to play four, five or six games in a short space of time, it's hard and I believe we have a very good squad so I have utilised that. At this stage, there is only one lad who hasn't started a game and one lad who hasn't been on the park, and that's the second goalkeeper. I'm pleased with that, because you have to maximise the squad.'

'I genuinely believe in all of the players, that they can come in and be effective in what they do, so that's what we did with the team today.'

England will now take on Greece in the next match on Thursday, with France's second place finish in the group ensuring they face Spain in the other game.

Well done lads and good luck in the Quarter-Final.