Post by Taxigirl on Oct 8, 2005 9:06:26 GMT
home.skysports.com
By Tom Adams
England Under-21's suffered their first defeat of their European Championship qualifying campaign as they lost the momentum of a fantastic first half to lose 2-1 to Austria.
Peter Taylor's men had already qualified for the play-offs but suffered their first competitive defeat since the Hull boss returned to marshall the side and will now have to settle for second place in Group Six after Germany hammered Wales.
England were warned as Austria hit the woodwork in the first period and Marc Janko duly transformed the game with two well taken second half strikes.
Taylor's attacking triumvirate of Carlton Cole, Aaron Lennon and Jerome Thomas were consistently causing chaos in the Austrian defence throughout the first half, and skipper Cole saw Tom Soares arrive just too late for his early cross.
Charlton's Thomas, on his debut, was rightly denied a penalty shout on eight minutes before Wigan left-back Leighton Baines saw his explosive half-volley tipped around by Ramazan Ozcan.
England were in the ascendancy and their efforts paid off after just 18 minutes when James Milner, returning to his former haunt of Elland Road, evaded Dennis Mimm with ease on the left and saw Cole rise unopposed to head in his cross.
Despite enjoying the best of the half Taylor's men were reminded of the visitors' threat when captain Gyorgy Garics headed against the bar when left unmarked in the box on 36 minutes, and Michael Dawson headed over from close at the other end from Baines' incisive cross.
The Wigan starlet proved a danger from wide and with just two minutes to go England should have doubled their lead as his whipped cross found Cole again, although Ozcan did superbly to tip his header round the post.
However, for all England's attacking endeavour they collapsed after the half time break, although before Austria's unexpected turnaround Milner should have headed on target when well placed for a Thomas cross.
Janko then took centre stage to shift the game decisively in the favour of the visitors as he claimed an equaliser that was against the run of play when he side-footed in from close range on 68 minutes - whilst Cole was denied a second minutes later with a harsh offside flag.
The forward's goal gave Austria some much-needed self belief and they took the game to their English counterparts and edged into a lead when Janko showed fantastic composure as he collected Garics's parried shot, evaded a desperate Steven Taylor, and rolled the ball in.
Taylor threw on Cardiff hot-shot Cameron Jerome for his debut as he looked to rescue a draw, and the final chance fell to Dawson as the THFC man was denied by a last-gasp save from Ozcan as he looked to have dribbled round the goalkeeper in injury time.
Germany finish top of the group after they comfortably saw off Wales 4-0 in Braunschweig.
Hertha Berlin striker Nando Rafael did the early damage as he claimed a brace in the first 51 minutes, although Wales could have scored when Arron Davies' lob was cleared off the line.
The home side were a cut above Wales and put the tie beyond doubt as Malik Fatih netted after Rafael hit the post - with Ioannis Masmanidis completing the scoring with 11 minutes to go as he volleyed home.
By Tom Adams
England Under-21's suffered their first defeat of their European Championship qualifying campaign as they lost the momentum of a fantastic first half to lose 2-1 to Austria.
Peter Taylor's men had already qualified for the play-offs but suffered their first competitive defeat since the Hull boss returned to marshall the side and will now have to settle for second place in Group Six after Germany hammered Wales.
England were warned as Austria hit the woodwork in the first period and Marc Janko duly transformed the game with two well taken second half strikes.
Taylor's attacking triumvirate of Carlton Cole, Aaron Lennon and Jerome Thomas were consistently causing chaos in the Austrian defence throughout the first half, and skipper Cole saw Tom Soares arrive just too late for his early cross.
Charlton's Thomas, on his debut, was rightly denied a penalty shout on eight minutes before Wigan left-back Leighton Baines saw his explosive half-volley tipped around by Ramazan Ozcan.
England were in the ascendancy and their efforts paid off after just 18 minutes when James Milner, returning to his former haunt of Elland Road, evaded Dennis Mimm with ease on the left and saw Cole rise unopposed to head in his cross.
Despite enjoying the best of the half Taylor's men were reminded of the visitors' threat when captain Gyorgy Garics headed against the bar when left unmarked in the box on 36 minutes, and Michael Dawson headed over from close at the other end from Baines' incisive cross.
The Wigan starlet proved a danger from wide and with just two minutes to go England should have doubled their lead as his whipped cross found Cole again, although Ozcan did superbly to tip his header round the post.
However, for all England's attacking endeavour they collapsed after the half time break, although before Austria's unexpected turnaround Milner should have headed on target when well placed for a Thomas cross.
Janko then took centre stage to shift the game decisively in the favour of the visitors as he claimed an equaliser that was against the run of play when he side-footed in from close range on 68 minutes - whilst Cole was denied a second minutes later with a harsh offside flag.
The forward's goal gave Austria some much-needed self belief and they took the game to their English counterparts and edged into a lead when Janko showed fantastic composure as he collected Garics's parried shot, evaded a desperate Steven Taylor, and rolled the ball in.
Taylor threw on Cardiff hot-shot Cameron Jerome for his debut as he looked to rescue a draw, and the final chance fell to Dawson as the THFC man was denied by a last-gasp save from Ozcan as he looked to have dribbled round the goalkeeper in injury time.
Germany finish top of the group after they comfortably saw off Wales 4-0 in Braunschweig.
Hertha Berlin striker Nando Rafael did the early damage as he claimed a brace in the first 51 minutes, although Wales could have scored when Arron Davies' lob was cleared off the line.
The home side were a cut above Wales and put the tie beyond doubt as Malik Fatih netted after Rafael hit the post - with Ioannis Masmanidis completing the scoring with 11 minutes to go as he volleyed home.