Ben Futcher lauded England Under-21s’ “ruthless” second-half performance after they rallied to beat Austria 4-1 in a friendly at Kenilworth Road.
Morgan Rogers’ first-half penalty was cancelled out by Thierno Ballo as the teams went into the interval level. But Rogers’ second and goals from James McAtee and Tom Fellows after the break saw Futcher get his first win as interim boss.
Futcher praised his side’s second-half finishing as England managed to bounce back from Friday’s goalless draw with Northern Ireland.
Speaking after the match, he said: “We were better second half. We were disappointed to go into half-time one each because we had a number of chances which were clear cut and we didn’t take them.
“Second half, we were ruthless, it could’ve been more, it was a really good performance and we have some smiling faces in there, which is good.
“We stepped on the gas, were more ruthless and got a deserved four goals.
“I thought we played some good football, we moved the ball across the pitch well, we were patient when needed and we created some really good chances. We have top players who expressed themselves and that’s what I asked of them to do.”
Rogers’ penalty was rifled into the roof of the net to give England a 25th-minute opener.
The Aston Villa winger got his brace soon after half-time with a curled finish into the bottom right-hand corner.
“There’s some top talent in there and Morgan is one of them,” he added. “It’s good to see him on the scoresheet – he was excellent tonight but so were other players as well. It was a positive night with a good team performance so we can go away happy.”
Futcher is currently managing the Under-21s on an interim basis after he took over from senior interim boss Lee Carsley, who stepped in after Gareth Southgate stood down from the role.
Futcher hopes the result impressed FA technical director John McDermott.
“He (McDermott) told me good luck,” Futcher said. “We’ll speak at some point over the next couple of days, which is good, hopefully he enjoyed what he saw.
“I’m sure he’ll give me a phone call or I’ll see him at St George’s Park over the next week or so.”
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