"CAL TO ARMS" Daily Mirror

England Team

Wales Team

    Match Report by Mike Payne

Once again, in the funereal atmosphere of a deserted Wembley Stadium, the England players were asked to serve up an entertaining friendly International match.  By and large, they did just that against Wales, even though there were some new faces in two experimental sides.  England Manager, Gareth Southgate, brought in some new caps in Bukayo Saka, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and, as later substitutes, Reece James and Harvey Barnes.  All did well, with Calvert-Lewin immediately transferring his current club form with Everton onto this higher stage.

The match began slowly, with Wales having plenty of possession but not really creating any clear chances.  The game was littered with poor passing and nervousness from the players of both sides in those early stages.  That was highlighted by Saka’s poor headed clearance falling for Keiffer Moore shooting wide for Wales in the 20th minute, when he really should have done much better.  It was the first real chance of the match.

Five minutes later England opened the scoring with their own first good chance.  Fine footwork by Jack Grealish on the right as he beat Ethan Ampadu and centred perfectly for Calvert-Lewin to roar in and power home a close range header.  It was a fine goal with a superb assist, and the goal was a big blow to the Welsh team.  They did try and hit back but a header by Chris Mepham was easily saved by Nick Pope.  A minute later and Pope had to dive bravely at the feet of Moore, to gather the ball and stop a dangerous moment.  As the half wore on, and with a goal lead, England began to be a little more assured, and Saka recovered from a shaky start to start driving forward a bit more.  Grealish found him with one pass and only a desperate block at the expense of a corner stopped the Arsenal man.  From the corner Conor Coady was left unmarked, but shot over from a good position.

The second half was comfortable for England helped with an early goal to increase their lead.  Just eight minutes into the half, Grealish, not for the first time, was fouled.  The free-kick was taken by skipper for the night, Kieran Trippier, and he sent in a wonderful cross to the far post.  Who should be there, arriving ahead of any defenders, but Coady, who fired home with the aplomb of the super striker that he surely is!  In fact, that was his first goal of any description for club or country for many moons.  To be fair though, it was only his second England cap.  Rarely has anyone seen such utter joy from any player on scoring his first England goal as shown by Coady, beaming from ear to ear.

Grealish continued to shine, although Ampadu again fouled the Villa man and this time the Welshman was booked as the Scottish referee lost patience.  Shortly afterwards Dylan Levitt was also booked, for a nasty challenge on Harry Winks, and that showed a few of the frustrations that crept into the play of this inexperienced Welsh team.

On 63 minutes the game was well and truly put to bed.  A corner from the left was headed back across goal by substitute Tyrone Mings, and Danny Ings made it a hat-trick of players scoring their first England goals on the night.  And his goal will long live in his memory too, a brilliant overhead kick that left Wayne Hennessey beaten all ends up.

At times, England frustratingly went backwards instead of forwards, although that improved when Mason Mount came on, as his first thought was always to turn towards the Welsh goal.  Grealish was playing really well and after one jinking run his cross flew past the far post with no-one able to get a touch.

On 69 minutes Grealish combined with Mount to set up Saka, coming in from the left, but his slightly deflected shot was brilliantly saved one-handed by Hennessey.  That was so nearly a fourth player notching his first International goal for England.  Saka had improved throughout the game after his nervously shaky start, and he could be pleased with his night’s work.  The only half-hearted reply from the Welsh came from William Vaulks, when he shot well over Pope’s crossbar.

Both sides had agreed six subs each and all were used, with England bringing on three players in the 75th minute.  One lovely moment came when Trippier went off, but before doing so he passed the captain’s armband on to Joe Gomez who immediately passed it on to Coady.  If scoring for his country didn’t excite the Wolves player then being captain of his country, albeit for a short time, left him bursting with pride.  The great Billy Wright would have loved that moment.

Reece James, Harvey Barnes and James Ward-Prowse looked lively after they came on.  Also lively throughout was Ings, and he so nearly scored a fourth for England, in the 83rd minute, only to be foiled by another great save from Hennessey.  And finally, with almost the last kick of the match, Ward-Prowse brought another excellent save from the goalkeeper.

It had been a very useful performance by Southgate’s experimental side, and several of the players did their futures no harm in the Manager’s thinking for the busy programme of games to come.  However, it will almost certainly be a much changed, more experienced side, that will take on Belgium in the next important match of the Nations League tournament.
    

Source Notes