Steven Taylor will now captain the England Under-21s into next summer’s European Championships in Sweden.
Steven Taylor - scored with header to take England through
The England Under-21 side eased past Wales into the finals, but it was hardly easy, and En gland again conceded two goals, which is unlike them.
England were leading 3-2 on aggregate from last week’s first-leg in Cardiff, and nicely opened the scoring through a Tom Huddlestone free-kick in the 14th minute.
But then Wales surprisingly went ahead before the interval with goals Arsenal youngster Aaron Ramsey and Wycombe striker Simon Church.
But it was that Newcastle man again who scored with a header to restore England lead, when his header hit the back of the net via the arm of Wolves’ Sam Vokes just before half-time. Vokes is the 18 year-old striker Newcastle were interested in last January, when he was at Bournemouth, but he moved to Wolves in the summer.
England made it difficult for themselves when Spurs’ Huddlestone was sent off in the second half but Stuart Pearce’s side held on to win the two game tie by 5-4.
After steamrolling through in their group, England’s passage to Sweden was made extremely difficult by a very good Wales side, but it’s the England lads who will be there on 15th June in Sweden, and they will be favorites to win the whole thing - but they’ll need to tighten up their defense.
The Finals start in June next year and Steven Taylor will be leading the England side, and we’re sure he will be just delighted at that. But first - 3 points on Monday night against Manchester City please. 
England
1 Joe Hart, 2 David Wheater, 3 Jamie O’Hara, 4 Lee Cattermole (15 Fabrice Muamba, 31), 5 Steven Taylor (c), 6 Michael Mancienne, 7 James Milner, 8 Tom Huddlestone, 9 Gabriel Agbonlahor (17 Fraizer Campbell, 46), 10 Mark Noble, 11 Adam Johnson,
Subs: 12 Andrew Taylor, 13 Tom Heaton, 14 Martin Cranie, 16 Matt Derbyshire, 18 Adam Lallana
Manager Stuart Pearce
Wales
1 Owain Fon Williams, 2 Neal Eardley (c), 3 Rhoys Wiggins, 4 Jack Collison, 5 Darcy Blake, 6 Joe Jacobson, 8 Andy King (15 Mark Bradley, 60), 9 Simon Church, 10 Aaron Ramsey, 11 Shaun MacDonald (7 Nicky Adams, 83), 18 Sam Vokes
Subs not used: 12 Rhys Taylor, 13 Lloyd James, 14 Grant Basey, 16 Jonathan Brown, 17 Joe Allen
Manager Brian Flynn
Referee Kevin Blom (NED)
Assistants Wilco Lobbert (NED) and Berry Simon (NED)
Fourth Official Tom Van Sichem (NED)
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8 responses so far ↓
1 KK FOREVER (Ross) // Oct 15, 2008 at 11:32
watched the game yesterday, no way taylor can claim that header, haha. he tried to put it back accross goal, it bounced off a defender and ended up in the net.
Just been listening to keith harris on sky sports here, he says for the last 7 days or so, they have had 7 interested parties in newcastle. None have yet dropped out, and of the 7 parties involved, none are from nigeria, or south africa. I’m pretty sure he said that he hoped to have 2 or 3 solid bids placed within the next week or two?
Spoke about keegan but didnt say anything important. Just said he thought kinnear has done so far, and would continue to do a good job at newcastle, and that it was impossible to say whether kev would return or not.
2 Chris H // Oct 15, 2008 at 11:50
Yeah, I saw that interview aswell KK FOREVER, quite interesting. Fingers crossed they make serious bids soon.
3 dougnufc // Oct 15, 2008 at 12:19
SSN said that Sam Vokes scored an own goal
4 samthecat // Oct 15, 2008 at 12:55
The South African bloke was still trying to raise the money! as for the Nigerians-they have gone very quiet havent they.
As for the u-21s-anyone decent in there.
5 Born Again Geordie // Oct 15, 2008 at 13:18
Ed, i was at the game and it was down as a Sam Vokes own goal. Taylor did play well though against a decent young Welsh side.
6 Born Again Geordie // Oct 15, 2008 at 13:22
samthecat,
Michael Mancienne look very useful to be honest and won most stuff in the air also looked confident with the ball at his feet.
Jamie O’Hara also looked good at left back and was good going forward as well as defensively.
7 lesh // Oct 15, 2008 at 13:30
Anybody see Keith Harris on the 10 tve news last night? he was talking debt in the Prem and mentioned a number of clubs as being seriously debt ridden.
NUFC wasn’t mentioned so I took it that he’s doing his best to market it as a srious proposition to the world at large.
8 Heavy hitters // Oct 16, 2008 at 21:58
Taylor seems to be reverting to being a forward where he was originally when he came to our club. He cannot defend and we’re short of fit forwards so give this useless defender a go up front, perhaps I’ll even get to like him one day lol !
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