A brace from debutant Zavon Hines helped England Under 21s to a 6-3 victory over Macedonia at Coventy's Ricoh Arena.
West Ham starlet bag two
A brace from debutant Zavon Hines helped England Under 21s to a 6-3 victory over Macedonia at Coventy's Ricoh Arena.
A 20,074 crowd were treated to a thrilling European Championship Group Nine qualifier.
England raced into a two-goal lead as defenders Kieran Gibbs and Micah Richards both scored in the opening half-an-hour.
Muarem Muarem pulled one back for the visitors just before the break and Macedonia were level just after the break when Agim Ibraimi pounced.
Parity lasted just 60 seconds as Andy Carroll restored England's lead, but Stuart Pearce's men again showed fragility at the back as Gibbs put through his own net.
Second-half sub Hines then made a huge impact as he put England ahead just after the hour.
England put a real shine on the scoreline in the last few minutes as Carroll and Hines added their second goals of the evening.
Both sides made a solid start to the encounter with Ibraimi the first to test goalkeeper Scott Loach with a stinging free-kick that the Watford man safely parried away for a corner.
England started to grab a foothold on the game somewhat as the first quarter wore on but Macedonia were more than willing to commit men forward themselves.
The midfield quartet of Jack Wilshere, Danny Rose, Jack Rodwell and Tom Cleverley looked more than at ease as they worked the ball around - and the latter two combined for England's opener after 22 minutes.
Cleverley did extremely well to keep Rodwell's crossfield pass in play as he hugged the touchline, before playing a through-ball for Walcott.
And the England number 10 lofted a perfect ball to the back post where Gibbs was on hand to head home.
The young lions only had to wait eight minutes for a second. The classy Wilshere floated a corner to the near post for Michael Mancienne to flick on and Richards nodded past Kristijan Naumovski.
Loach did well to save from Ibraimi for a second time before Macedonia grabbed a lifeline in the 42nd minute.
Muarem fired in a low free-kick from the left side of the penalty area and, despite the best efforts of Betim Aliju, the ball appeared to go untouched before beating Loach.
Walcott replaced
West Ham youngster Hines came on at half-time for the injured Theo Walcott - who went off with a dead-leg, which could cause some concern to Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.
In the 52nd minute Michael Mancienne slipped before making a complete hash of his attempted interception, allowing the lively Ibraimi to level matters.
England were back in front just two minutes later, though, as Carroll flicked
Gibbs' near-post cross over Naumovski.
The breathtaking second half continued when the visitors made it 3-3 in the 58th minute. Ibraimi whipped a vicious corner into the penalty area and as the
ball was knocked goalwards, Gibbs - who was standing on the goalline - put it
into his own net.
Pearce must surely have been hugely alarmed at the kamikaze second-half
performance from his side.
Nevertheless, his charges regained their lead in the 67th minute courtesy of Hines.
The 20-year-old latched onto Cleverley's through-ball before putting his finish between the legs of Naumovski, before Carroll and Hines put the gloss on the scoreline in the closing stages.
