Ethan Nwaneri’s double helped England Under-21s get back to winning ways with a 4-1 home win over Moldova at Carrow Road.
Lee Kearsley’s back-to-back European champions dropped points in a shock 1-1 draw with Andorra in poor weather on Friday, but were inspired in Norfolk by key contributions from Arsenal duo Nwaneri and Miles Lewis-Skelly and Tottenham midfielder Archie Gray.
Lewis-Skelly, who has six senior caps under his belt, set up Nwaneri’s brace, Vasile Ruchita scored a fine equalizer for Moldova, Gray scored late on and Romain Esse scored late on to help England win six of seven in Euro U21 qualifying Group D.
Romain Esse celebrates goal against Moldova U21 national team
Arsenal’s Miles Lewis Skelly celebrates with Esse after contributing two assists
After England called for a Rico Luiz penalty in the 89th minute to avoid an embarrassing defeat against Andorra, Carsley shuffled the pack and made five substitutions at Carrow Road, with Sam Amo-Ameyo making his full debut for the Under-21s.
Lewis-Skelly started again and immediately made a nice pass to Strasbourg attacker Amo-Ameyo to bring out the recalled Tyler Dibling, but his volley went wide.
The breakthrough came in the 11th minute when Lewis-Skelly’s cross-shot was immediately parried away by Moldova goalkeeper Artur Nazarciuk.
It was a goal scored by Lewis-Skelly at Arsenal’s Hale End Academy after he swung brilliantly away from Mateo Obreac, denied by Nazarciuk, but with Nwaneri in control of the rebound.
Lewis-Skelly’s shot went wide moments later and captain Jobe Bellingham’s shot went wide.
Lewis-Skelly should have made it 2-0 after 26 minutes when he flicked in Nwaneri, but the Marseille loanee curled his shot into the side netting.
Moldova, fresh from a 1-1 draw with the Republic of Ireland, improved after that and just before half-time Obreats’ shot was deflected behind Gray for a corner.
England failed to heed the warning and, three minutes after the break, Luchita conceded a goal with a superb shot into the corner, sparking loud cheers in the away dugout.
A lack of concentration from the impressive Lewis Skelly led to Cristian Valentin Antonsiuk running away, but Lewis made a timely interception to thwart the danger.
This brought England back to life and after a good run from Dibring, Nwaneri had his shot blocked and Lewis teed up Gray to confidently slot home the Under-21s’ second goal.
Nwaneri should have added another goal with Lewis-Skelly, who also played from the Arsenal academy, but Nazarchukwu stood up well to make the save.
England were flagged for offside, but soon the North London duo of Lewis Skelly and Nwaneri combined again to make it 3-1.
After Bellingham was taken down, Lewis-Skelly deftly evaded two challenges and this time found Nwaneri, whose shot was powerful enough to beat Nazarchukwu.
There was still time for Norwich defender Kellen Fisher to receive a huge round of applause, but Esse rounded off the scoring with eight minutes remaining when he headed home Lewis’ excellent cross to score his fourth goal in front of a crowd of 11,547.
