Slovenia 2 England 2: Eight new faces but same defensive woes as late Ramsdale and Panzo cock-ups cost U21s
AIDY BOOTHROYD saw late goals cost England again - but hoped it would be beneficial to his Young Lions going forward.
Mistakes from Aaron Ramsale and Jonathan Panzo saw Slovenia net twice in the last ten minutes after an Eddie Nketiah penalty and Sam Surridge’s maiden strike had put our boys 2-0 up.
It followed up complacent finales against France, Romania and Croatia at the Euros in the summer when England conceded a whopping six goals in the final ten minutes across those fixtures.
Boothroyd - who fielded eight debutants - is hopeful that his current crop will use this friendly disappointment to their advantage when the real action kicks off again.
The 48-year-old said: “It was a dominant performance and then errors cost us. But as daft as it sounds, they’re good.
“I’d rather have an error like this here when we’re experimenting with a couple of things because it means tomorrow I can use it in the context of not wanting to do that in the European Championships or a qualifier.
“It was a fact-finding mission, eight debuts, two system changes.
“I’m not overly disappointed. I’ve learnt quite a few things tonight. Although it might not seem it, I’m quite happy with a lot of stuff but obviously disappointed to chuck away a two-goal lead.”
This game was to scope out one of the venues at the Under-21 Euros in Slovenia and Hungary in summer 2021.
It was one-way traffic as Boothroyd’s men, playing an experimental 3-5-1-1 formation against a side who will only be at Euros because they are hosts, having never qualified before.
The attendance must have been less than 200, meaning every bellow from keeper Ramsdale was audible as was the constant shout of ‘Phil, Phil’ from team-mates urging Phil Foden to find them.
And it was Foden who had the game’s first good chance as he received the ball on the edge of the area from Max Aarons’ cut-back and fizzed it just over the far corner.
Six minutes before the break, Foden fed Nketiah who burst through a challenge on the edge of the area, only to be felled by centre-back Zan Zalatel in the box.
Croatian ref Mario Zebec pointed to the spot and Nketiah, who netted a brace in Turkey last month, confidently sent the keeper the wrong way.
England were much changed after the break yet sub Surridge doubled the lead as he turned home Panzo’s pull-back after fellow Swansea sub Ben Wilmot had crashed the post.
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But Surridge’s Bournemouth colleague Ramsdale ensured a nervy finish as he undercooked a pass to Panzo, allowing Tomi Horvat to steal possession and tee up Dejan Petrovic to reduce the arrears.
In the third minute of injury time, Panzo misjudged a long ball and fouled Horvat on the edge of the area.
Janez Pisek to fired home the resulting free-kick - via a big deflection - to give Boothroyd’s men another late kick in the teeth.