Steve McClaren’s first game in charge of the Young Lions didn’t start on a winning note-but at the end of the day, the Manchester City coach would have been pretty happy with the 2-2 full time scoreline.
England were awful in the first half, unable to penetrate and didn’t cause the Spanish any trouble. There was an early chance for David Nugent when Spanish keeper Garrido was out of his line, but the Preston forward shot straight at him. Curtis Davies suffered a bloody nose in a clash with Garrido, and had to change shirts four times in the evening. Tom Huddlestone didn’t look too influential in the centre, and Andrew Taylor and Ashley Young looked anonymous on the field.
Spain deservingly took the lead in the 35th minute when a weak Carson clearance was intercepted by the Spanish. Curtis Davies’ second attempt to clear it was prodded back by Jurado. The ball bobbled to Roberto Soldado, who evaded Carson with a neat first touch, and tucked the ball away . 1-0 to Spain. Some weird defending by the English saw goal number scored just before half time by Jose Jurado, and the Young Lions were down by two goals to nil.
Pearce brought on Walcott for Young in a bid to inject some pace and trickery into the game. David Bentley, arguably England’s finest player in the second half, was the creator of the first goal. His free kick from the right ricocheted off a Spanish defender and fell in front of David Nugent, who coolly tapped in. Richardson came on for Huddlestone and so did Rosenior for Andrew Taylor.
Curtis Davies had had a not so great evening, but the West Brom centreback made amends when his cross from the left was met by Leroy Lita in the 79th minute, leaving Garrido stranded.
Again, it was a capacity crowd at Pride Park who turned out to support the young Lions in freezing temperatures.
Spain would have been pleased with the result, and with their senior team handing Steve Mclaren his first home defeat, the Spanish team would have returned home a pleased lot.