Southgate pleased with draw

Southgate pleased with draw

Southgate pleased with draw

England Under-21s manager Gareth Southgate was encouraged by the way his side recovered to earn a point in Finland.

Having seen off Moldova with relative ease in his first match at the helm, the 1-1 draw in Tampere was an eventful second game at the helm for the recently-appointed Young Lions boss.

Moshtagh Yaghoubi gave Finland a shock 15th-minute lead after his whipped, long-range free-kick rather embarrassingly caught out goalkeeper Jack Butland.

England recovered well and equalised through Saido Berahino in the 67th minute, but any chances of a win were hampered by a red card for captain Andre Wisdom.

"We said at the beginning of the week that we won't go into every game and not make mistakes or not go behind, so it's how we respond to those things that matters," Southgate said after the European Championship qualifier.

"We've got to keep doing the right things and we kept passing and probing. We kept doing that when we went down to 10 men as well, which was really pleasing."

This is a new start for the Young Lions, set to a backdrop of discontent.

The Under-21s lost all three of their matches at the European Championships in the summer - a performance which led to the end of Stuart Pearce's six-year reign.

That no doubt played a part in Football Association chairman Greg Dyke's hard-hitting speech last week in which he bemoaned the state of the national game.

However, Southgate believes the current crop of young players can build a more successful future and has been particularly impressed by two players in the group.



Source : http://www.football.co.uk/england/southgate_pleased_with_draw_rss4400797.shtml