Ethan Nwaneri’s double helped England U21s get back to winning ways with an emphatic 4-1 home victory over Moldova at Carrow Road.
Lee Carsley’s back-to-back European Championship winners dropped points with a shock 1-1 draw at Andorra on Friday in poor weather conditions, but were inspired in Norfolk by key contributions from Arsenal duo Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly along with Tottenham midfielder Archie Gray.
Lewis-Skelly, who has received six senior caps, set up both of Nwaneri’s two goals and Gray scored in between after Vasile Luchita had produced a fine equaliser for Moldova before Romain Esse struck late on to help England make it six wins from seven in Group D of their U21 Euros qualification group.
Romain Esse celebrates his goal against Moldova U21s
Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly, who contributed two assists, celebrates with Esse
After England required an 89th-minute penalty from Rico Lewis to avoid an embarrassing defeat in Andorra, Carsley shuffled his pack and made five changes at Carrow Road with Sam Amo-Ameyaw handed a full debut for the U21s.
Lewis-Skelly again started and was immediately into the action with an excellent pass into Strasbourg attacker Amo-Ameyaw, who picked out the recalled Tyler Dibling, but he sent his volley attempt well wide.
A cross-shot from Lewis-Skelly was clawed away by Moldova goalkeeper Artur Nazarciuc soon after before the breakthrough occurred in the 11th minute.
It was a goal made in Arsenal’s Hale End academy after Lewis-Skelly brilliantly rolled away from Matteo Obleac and although he was denied by Nazarciuc, Nwaneri was on hand to steer in the rebound.
Another Lewis-Skelly effort moments later went harmlessly wide before captain Jobe Bellingham had a shot deflected off target.
It should have been 2-0 after 26 minutes when Lewis-Skelly flicked into Nwaneri, but the Marseille loanee fired into the side-netting.
Moldova, fresh from a 1-1 draw with Republic of Ireland, improved afterwards and Obleac had a shot deflected behind for a corner by Gray before half-time.
England failed to heed that warning and conceded three minutes after the break when Luchita produced a superb curled effort into the corner to spark big celebrations in the away dugout.
A lapse in concentration by the otherwise impressive Lewis-Skelly allowed Cristian Valentin Antonciuc to race away, but Lewis produced a timely interception to halt the danger.
It sparked England back into life and after a fine run by Dibling, Nwaneri had a shot blocked and Lewis teed up Gray to curl home with aplomb for his second goal for the U21s.
Nwaneri should have added a second when Lewis-Skelly played in his fellow Arsenal academy graduate, but Nazarciuc stood up well to save.
The offside flag denied England not long after before the north London duo of Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri combined again to make it 3-1.
After Bellingham was brought down, Lewis-Skelly masterfully side-stepped two challenges and found Nwaneri, who this time got enough power on his shot to beat Nazarciuc.
There was still time for Norwich defender Kellen Fisher to come on to big applause before Esse wrapped up the scoring with eight minutes left when he headed in Lewis’ fine cross to produce a fourth goal in front of 11,547 spectators.
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