Game 27: England U21 3.0 Republic of Ireland U21 (Euro Qualifier) 05.02.08

Travelled down to Southampton with Amy to meet up with Chris & Elaine, Matt & Jo, Alan, Andy and Rob for this England u21 game. It had threatened to rain while we walked across from the station to the ground to meet the others and started to drizzle while we waited outside. Once Chris and his group arrived, we headed into the ground and just in time. By the time we were in the concourse and could see onto the pitch, there was a torrential downpour and it continued to rain heavily. Andy and Rob joined us in the seats ten minutes later and were absolutely soaked!


This was Amy’s first international match and she was impressed with the atmosphere and the number of England flags in the ground. The announcer made one mistake in the excitement – asking us to stand for the anthems of England and the Republic of Northern Ireland – that led to a few confused faces around us!


The wet weather made a passing game difficult and neither team got going in the first period. The initial excitement led to boredom and the local element of the crowd seemed more interested in singing anti-Pompey songs then getting behind their national team. The England formation didn’t seem to be working to me – lots of pace with Walcott and Lennon on the wings but no real strength to the play to go with it.


Both teams improved in the second half and while England had the most of the play, Ireland had the best chance of the game with a breakaway attack. Andy Keogh was played in and only had Hart to beat in the England goal but put his shot wide.


England took the lead after 60 minutes. The ball was passed out to James Milner on the right wing and as the crowd shouted “Shoot!” he pulled his foot back and aimed a low shot towards the far post. It was directly in line with where we were sitting and looked to be in all the way. Despite a late deflection, the ball made it into the back of the net. A second goal for Milner and England followed 8 minutes later – a low shot from 20 yards out hit the inside of the post and went in.



England scored a third goal after 78 minutes. This time it was the local favourite, former Southampton player Theo Walcott, who scored – taking the ball, running at the defence and opening up for a shot across the keeper and in. Keogh had a couple more chances for Ireland but each time he went through he hit his shots direct to the keeper and should have done better.