England Under-21s 5 Bosnia & Herzegovina 0: Tammy Abraham stars along with John Swift, Duncan Watmore and Josh Onomah as Three Lions romp to victory
Aidy Boothroyd has made a flying start to replacing Gareth Southgate as under-21s boss
REFORMED party-boy Jack Grealish earned a night on the town after pulling the strings as England's kids cruised to a 5-0 win.
The Aston Villa rascal produced a hat-trick of assists, should have earned a penalty, and generally ran the show at Walsall's Banks's Stadium.
John Swift opened the scoring with a magnificent solo strike before one of the country's most prolific strikers - the Chelsea-owned Bristol City striker Tammy Abraham - smashed home a second inside the first half.
Then Josh Onomah grabbed a goal, followed by Duncan Watmore, and Abraham completed his brace to complete a brilliant day for the young guns.
Aidy Boothroyd's men had already qualified for Poland 2017 U21 European Championships so they made a massive nine changes to their last starting XI and still cruised with Grealish winning the man of the match award.
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Here are 10 things we learnt from the Banks's stadium:
- THE 3pm kick-off took older fans back to the 1970s when due to power cuts caused by industrial action, the Government ordered midweek matches to be played in the afternoons so the floodlights did not have to be switched on.
- ENGLAND took to the field in their final Euro 2017 qualifier knowing they had already booked their place at next summer’s Finals in Poland. England are the only country to have reached six successive Finals.Who says our kids are rubbish? Everyone, oh all right then.
- INTERIM boss Aidy Boothroyd, promoted from the U-20s following Gareth Southgate’s secondment to the seniors, made NINE changes to his team that started their 1-0 win in Kazakhstan on Thursday.
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- READING’S John Swift – not to be confused with the author of Gulliver’s Travels - fired the Young Lions ahead with a dipping 25-yard shot in the 14th minute.
- TAMMY ABRAHAM made it 2-0 five minutes later when he hooked in the bound after Josh Onomah’s shot had been beaten away by Kenan Piric.
- ENGLAND keeper Christian Walton did not have a save to make until he superbly tipped the brilliantly named Armin Cerimagic’s shot over the bar in the 39th minute.
- A NICE afternoon out was ruined by the uber-annoying England band which contravened Bermondsey Football Law No7 which states: The only instrument you should take with you into a football stadium is a blunt one.
- THANKFULLY Josh Onomah made it music to English ears when he made it 3-0 in the 49th minute.
- DUNCAN WATMORE added a fourth but you feel he would be a better player if he just played with his head up a bit more as he failed to make the most of the good positions he got himself into.
- ABRAHAM made it 5-0 with a sublime finish to show England U-21s there is life without Marcus Rashford.
- JACK GREALISH made his first start in this qualifying campaign and was outstanding in midfield. But if there was one player you would not trust with the man of the match bubbly.
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