UEFA Euro Under 21 Championship Qualifier (Group 4)
At Bramall Lane (home of Sheffield United FC)
England (1) 2
Dominic Calvert-Lewin 41
Dominic Solanke 88
Ukraine (0) 1
Mykola Shaparenko 83
Admission £10. Programme £3 (covered three games)
Attendance 22,601
England U21:
Angus Gunn, Jonjoe Kenny, Ben Chilwell, Dael Fry, Joe Worrall, Tom Davies, Josh Onomah, Demarai Gray (Ademola Lookman 73), James Maddison (Dominic Solanke 77), Ryan Sessegnon, Dominic Calvert-Lewis (Ainsley Maitland-Niles 90)
Unused subs - Freddie Woodman, Tammy Abraham, Jake Clarke-Salter
Ukraine U21:
Andriy Lunin, Valerii Luchkevych, Pavlo Lukyanchuk, Ivan Zotko, Vasyl Kravets, Yuri Vakulko (Mykola Shaparenko 63), Oleksandr Pikhalonok, Masym Lunov (Maksym Tretiakovat 80), VolodymyrShepeliev, Viktor Kovalenko, Artem Dovbyk (Oleksandr Zubkov 74)
Unused subs - Volodymyr Makhankov, Oleksandr Tymchyk, Evgen Tsymbalyuk, Maryan Shved
As well as representing England at U21, B team and first team level, Regis had also played for: Molesey, Hayes, West Bromwich Albion, Coventry City, Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Wycombe Wanderers and Chester City, during a playing career that spanned across two decades.
Valentin Costache reduced the arrears with eleven minutes remaining but the hosts held on to win 2-1.
Prior to tonight's qualifying game, which kicked off at 6PM, England were top of qualifying group four, some five points clear of third placed Ukraine, but only two ahead of Holland who had recorded a 1-0 win away from home against Andorra earlier today..
In the reverse fixture against the Ukranians, back in November, England won 2-0 in Kiev, courtesy of a goal from Liverpool’s Dominic Solanke and a second-half own goal by Pavlo Lukyanchuk.
That game formed part of the FA's 150th anniversary celebrations, with Roy Hodgson, who was still the first team manager at the time, taking charge of the U21's for the night.
England's goal scorers against Scotland were: Nathan Redmond, Raheem Sterling, Connor Wickham, Ross Barkley, Jonjo Shelvey and Tom Carroll.
But, a grand total of 22,061 spectators did actually make the effort to be there in time for the early start, which was still a very impressive turn out under the circumstances.
And they were treated to an intriguing game, with Ukraine more than playing their part with an eye catching, high pressing display, combining close control with an impressive array of passing, distribution and movement off the ball.
The win was borne more out of a patient, short passing approach, where perseverance was the key, as opposed to anything too cavalier, but it bodes well that when this England side played 'well enough', but looked below their best, that they van still knuckle down, stay focused on the job in hand and still 'tough out' a win when it was most needed.
I'm not saying that Boothroyd's side played badly, not at all, but they're capable of much better than they showed this evening in bright and breezy Sheffield.
The 'Young Lions' certainly didn't deserve to lose this game, but that said, the visitors will be disappointed that they didn't finish the night with more to show for their considerable efforts.
Because tonight, with Holland winning their game today and the Ukraine side looking to take the three points to keep in touch with the Dutch in Group D, though a display of aesthetically pleasing, high tempo football is always desirable, the three points were the main priority tonight, regardless of how the end result was achieved.
The former Sheffield United youngster Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who is now on Everton's books, almost opened the scoring from a James Maddison cross, but turned his effort fractionally wide.
However, just before the interval, the same pair combined again, when Calvert-Lewin latched onto a well weighted through ball from Maddison, muscled past a defender and poked the ball towards the Shoreham End 'Kop' goal, a split second before the advancing Ukrainian keeper Andriy Lunin reached the edge of the area and clattered into the England goalscorer.
But the away side continued to impress and were unlucky to see Volodymyr Shepeliev and Maxym Tretyakov both have efforts cleared off the line either side of half time.
Early in the second half, Joe Worall had an effort on goal chalked off for offside, after Maddison had picked him out with a free kick.
The 'Young Lions' certainly didn't deserve to lose this game, but that said, the visitors will be disappointed that they didn't finish the night with more to show for their considerable efforts.
Because tonight, with Holland winning their game today and the Ukraine side looking to take the three points to keep in touch with the Dutch in Group D, though a display of aesthetically pleasing, high tempo football is always desirable, the three points were the main priority tonight, regardless of how the end result was achieved.
The former Sheffield United youngster Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who is now on Everton's books, almost opened the scoring from a James Maddison cross, but turned his effort fractionally wide.
But the away side continued to impress and were unlucky to see Volodymyr Shepeliev and Maxym Tretyakov both have efforts cleared off the line either side of half time.
Early in the second half, Joe Worall had an effort on goal chalked off for offside, after Maddison had picked him out with a free kick.
Meanwhile, Ukraine had come flying out of the blocks after the break and looked to have equalised just after the hour mark, but Jonjoe Kenny came to England's rescue and he blocked Maskym Lunyov's crashing long range shot on the goal line with a timely and very brave header.
Maddison curled the ball over Gunn's crossbar from Josh Onomah's sideways pass.
With seven minutes to go, an attack by the visitors to the left of England's eighteen yard box, was only half dealt with, and as the ball sat up to the right of the goal Mykola Shaparenko ghosted into space and connected well, directing his header beyond the despairing reach of Gunn. You can't say that Ukraine didn't deserve to be (at least) on level terms.
But Shaparenko's goal, galvanised the England team and gave them the collective kick up their backsides that they needed to finish the game on a high. Ben Chilwell broke free on the left and crossed towards Dominic Solanke, who beat Lunin with a precision header, to give the home side the win, with just over a minute of the scheduled ninety remaining.
FT: England U21 2 v Ukraine U21 1
Anyway, I hereby dedicate Dominic Solanke's late goal to all the people who left the ground early after Ukraine had equalised... до побачення suckers!
Maddison curled the ball over Gunn's crossbar from Josh Onomah's sideways pass.
With seven minutes to go, an attack by the visitors to the left of England's eighteen yard box, was only half dealt with, and as the ball sat up to the right of the goal Mykola Shaparenko ghosted into space and connected well, directing his header beyond the despairing reach of Gunn. You can't say that Ukraine didn't deserve to be (at least) on level terms.
FT: England U21 2 v Ukraine U21 1
Anyway, I hereby dedicate Dominic Solanke's late goal to all the people who left the ground early after Ukraine had equalised... до побачення suckers!
Get the Italian holiday brochures out Mrs W!
