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Your support makes all the difference.Francis Jeffers, who can't get a game at Arsenal, gave a reminder of his finishing abilities with two second-half goals for England Under-21s here yesterday evening to see off a spirited Slovakia side in their European Championship qualifying match.
England ran out 4-0 winners after Shola Ameobi had given his side a 1-0 first-half lead and Joe Cole added a late goal of his own to seal a fine individual and team display.
However, it was far from straightforward for England in the early stages with the Wolverhampton Wanderers goalkeeper, Matt Murray, making a fine save just 60 seconds into the match from an Augustin Paulik effort.
As the match wore on, however, West Ham's Cole began to dictate the play with some fine footwork. He set up Ameobi twice in quick succession. Ameobi's first shot was beaten out by Jan Mucha but the Newcastle player made amends moments later scoring with a left-foot drive from 12 yards.
Slovakia then made a bright start to the second half with Paulik's rising shot flying just over Murray's crossbar.
The home side's chances were severely reduced, however, when Vladimir Poncak was sent off for a second bookable offence on Jeffers. Within a minute England had doubled their lead thanks to more magic from Cole. He played a delightful first-time ball into the path of Jeffers who made no mistake as he calmly slotted his shot past Mucha.
That double blow knocked the stuffing out of Slovakia and David Platt's side took control.
After 69 minutes Platt gave a first cap to Nottingham Forest's Michael Dawson in place of Titus Bramble and he arrived just in time to see Jeffers add his second.
Cole then completed the scoring three minutes from the end to send a reminder of his own – to Sven Goran Eriksson.
SLOVAKIA UNDER-21: Mucha, Poncak, Friga, Cech, Ancic, Durica, Paulik, Dolezaj, Jez, Halenar, Obzera. Subs: Postrk, Kiska, Vavrik, Konecny, Dancik, Duris, Sebo.
ENGLAND UNDER-21: Murray (Wolves), Samuel (Aston Villa), Barry (Aston Villa), Bramble (Newcastle), Konchesky (Charlton), Prutton (Nottingham Forest), Carrick (West Ham), Jenas (Newcastle), Cole (West Ham), Jeffers (Arsenal), Ameobi (Newcastle).
Referee: M Ingvarsson (Sweden).
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