"BELLINGHAM DEBUT IN ROUTINE ENGLAND WIN" BBC

England Team

Republic of Ireland Team

    Match Report by Mike Payne

In the first 15 minutes of this friendly International at Wembley, both sides looked to try and gain the edge on proceedings.  Tyrone Mings missed with a header from an early England corner but Ireland hit back with some good raids down the right where Daryl Horgan looked lively.  Twice the winger put in dangerous crosses, the second following a clever flick from Alan Browne, who sent his former Preston North End teammate away.  England defended the crosses well though and gradually pushed forward more themselves.

The Irish received a blow when John Egan had to go off after an early injury and England, attacking down the right, eventually won a corner.  That was after 18 minutes and the corner was cleared, but only to Harry Winks who sent in another deep cross to the far post.  In came Harry Maguire, who outjumped the defence to beat Darren Randolph with a good header and open the scoring.

From that moment on, England were dominant and the Irish gradually run out of ideas.  The danger from Horgan evaporated and that gave Bukayo Saka the licence to move further forward in support of the attack.  It also meant that Jack Grealish could start to show his skills to the full.  A lovely move sent Reece James scampering down the right in the 26th minute and when his cross came in to the near post, only a desperate lunge by Shane Duffy stopped Dominic Calvert-Lewin from ending the move with a goal.  From the resultant corner, Maguire again met the ball with a header and Randolph had to tip the ball over.

England’s crossing was causing the Irish problems all the time, and Grealish won another corner.  From this, in the 31th minute, the ball fell to Winks, who passed to Grealish, who, in turn, found Jadon Sancho.  The youngster skipped inside and hit a right-foot shot into the far corner with a confident finish.

With Grealish pulling the strings in midfield England were in a nice rhythm, whilst Ireland started to look bereft of ideas.  Another Sancho effort was blocked by a desperate lunge by Cyrus Christie.  Nick Pope, who had precious little to do, intercepted a cross and sent Mason Mount breaking down the left as England won yet another corner.  This was cleared, but Ireland kept sending long, aimless balls forward to no-one in particular, and that enabled England to mount other attacks.  Saka, looking more and more dangerous, set up Grealish with a fine pass but nobody was there for the Aston Villa man’s pullback from the byeline.  The final action of a comfortable first-half for England came when Mings shot wide from close range.

After the break England brought on Dean Henderson for a debut in goal, and the first action after the restart saw Grealish, with a jink and a chip shot just wide of the Irish goal.  And within the next two minutes both Saka and James put in efforts that narrowly failed.  England were in full control and another goal seemed inevitable, and that duly came in the 55th minute.  Saka with a strong run into the box ended with Christie tripping the Arsenal man for an obvious penalty.  Calvert-Lewin, who had run hard all through, but had few sights of goal, took the spot-kick, and rifled it home in style giving Randolph no chance to save.  It was all too easy for the home side as the Irish looked a well beaten side, and there was still 35 minutes to go!

It was the time for substitutions and there were quite a few with Grealish, Mings and Calvert-Lewin going off and Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Phil Foden and Tammy Abraham coming on for England.  Play became a little sedate after those changes, with England content to tippy-tap the ball around, too often, for the fans who wanted to see more intent to score more goals.  On 66 minutes Maguire missed a great chance after fine work again by Saka.  The full-back was playing well and in another attack, Michael Keane scuffed a shot on the turn and the bounce took it past a surprised Abraham, who was just two yards from goal.

As the Irish made substitutions of their own, Jude Bellingham became the third youngest England player ever, when he replaced Mount.  Meanwhile, Browne, one of the few Irish players to shine, had their first shot on target, as late as the 72nd minute.  Henderson, who initially slipped, made the eventual save with his foot.  As a PNE fan I was willing Browney to tuck that one away!  (Only joking!)

By this time England were so much on top that the game became a little tedious, with everyone seemingly just waiting for the final whistle to go.  Unfortunately there was still ten minutes to go, and in that time Henderson made a second save, this time from substitute Ronan Curtis.  Then Abraham ruined a perfect breakaway chance with a poor pass and Maguire headed wide with his fourth chance of the match.  Right at the end, Duffy had a chance after England’s defence dozed off, but he headed over.

It was a game that was affected by England’s dominance and Ireland’s general lack of ideas and quality.  If England had been a little more forceful, they might have doubled their score, the substitutions didn’t help much and it has to be said that after Grealish went off England lost their sparkle a little.  Nevertheless, it was a well deserved win and a good workout for the tough games to come.  As for Ireland, they have much more to work on and worry about.
        

Source Notes