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Tyrik George scored the only goal of the game. England Under-21 secured a close 1-0 victory over Andorra In their European Championship qualifier at Pride Park.
Lee Carsley’s side were forced to work hard by veteran players who made it difficult for the holders, but they still continued their winning start to the qualification campaign and kept a third consecutive clean sheet in what was otherwise an impressive performance.
Andorra sat in a lower block and was disappointed England in the first half and Carsley’s side were unable to find a way through until George opened the scoring in emphatic style after 41 minutes in his first under-21 start.
England continued to dominate the second period without putting the ball in the net and were prevented from scoring more goals due to consistent defending from Mark de Castro.
Fans turned out to watch the performance and the goals against the bottom-placed team in Group D, but Andorra’s resilient defense proved difficult to break down and was breached only once despite England having 19 shots throughout the match.
George got the first chance after a neat move but the Chelsea winger was unable to convert his effort from close range.
Andorra held their own in the opening quarter and the hosts tried to assert possession through neat exchanges of one-touch passes, which ended with Ethan Nwaneri falling into the gloves of De Castro in the Andorra goal.
The Young Lions thought they had taken the lead in the 29th minute. Jamie Gittens looks livewire for England and he’s selected josh king Who headed home but the celebrations were cut short by the assistant referee’s offside flag.
England finally broke down Andorra’s strong defense four minutes before the break.
Gittens provided the spark with some brilliant footwork that took two defenders out of the game and he passed it to George who fired it into the net for the breakthrough.
Seven minutes after half-time England almost doubled their advantage as a corner fell to George inside the box, he deflected an effort on target but Gerard Sola cleared it off the line.
The home team continued to move forward in search of another. Jobe Bellingham had a few attempts from distance and saw one saved by De Castro and another sent wide of the target.
Andorra had De Castro to thank for keeping the deficit at one as he did well to deny Rico Lewis’s difficult effort – one of six saves he made on the night.
The guests were also not out of the competition. Goalkeeper James Beadle remained onside for most of the game, but was forced to make his first save to deny Yedid Santaella from outside the box in the 80th minute.