England Supporters Club

Alicante fan's match report

Posted by Team England at 15:06 on Thursday 19 November 2015

Spain 2 – 4 England

Estadio Francisco Vilaplana Marie Ibi, 13th November 2015

1st half
1 - 0
1 - 1 Myles Wilson
2 - 1
2 - 2 Paul Newstead
2nd half
2 - 3 (OG)
2 - 4 Alex Moore

Match Report: Paul Newstead

With the weather a balmy 24c and not a cloud in sight, the players of the England Supporters team who had travelled to Ibi, a Spanish town some 30kms inland of Alicante may have thought it was home advantage to the Spanish side. Add to the mix the altitude of almost 2,500 feet above sea level and the bookies would have been giving long odds on the visitors getting anything out of this fixture!

Both teams fielded strong squads of 16 players, although it would be fair to say that the average age of the Spain team was somewhat lower than the England side. Would youthful exuberance win the day, or would it be a case of wisdom and experience winning through?

After a lively start, it was evident to the watching crowd that the Spanish side had played together before and that some of the English players were still settling into the team. The Spanish youngsters enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges, having a few early shots. The English team were still getting to know each other, and this showed with a few gaps appearing for Spain to exploit. Within 10 minutes a great ball from the Spanish midfield found their left winger unmarked in plenty of space on the corner of the box. Some great control and a few deft touches saw him unleash a powerful shot into the bottom right corner, giving England number one Mel Kenny no chance to get behind it. 0-1 and it looked like the conditions and youth would win through on the day.

However, with a good group of younger players in the England side it wasn't long before passes started to find their targets and the England team started to gain a foothold in the game. A good ball floated in from the left hand side sat up on the edge of the area. Myles Wilson got his head onto it and planted it over the defence and into the top left corner giving the keeper no chance whatsoever. All square, and a great way to mark an England debut for the England frontman.

With a more even match now, a rare defensive mix up gifted the Spanish team a goal with their right winger latching onto a misplaced pass out from the back. Calmly slotting it under Mel Kenny in the England goal to give the hosts a 2-1 lead, rather against the run of play.

Almost instantly from the kick off some good England pressure saw a couple of set pieces around the Spain goal area. Veteran midfielder, Paul Newstead, stepped up to take a corner knowing that the sun was low behind him so restricting the goalkeeper’s view of the ball. Trying to place one close to the front post for a glancing header by one of the England attackers, the corner taker was as surprised as anyone else on the pitch to see the ball fly past every player in the box and nestle in at the far post without a touch from anyone. 2-2 and at half time it had been an even match but the England lads felt a little aggrieved not to be leading.

The second half got underway in a similar fashion to the way the first half had ended, with England soaking up pressure in midfield and by the duo of youthful Centre Backs, Alex Williams and Will Goddard handling everything that was thrown at them after losing their fellow defender Dan White late in the first half with an ankle injury. Paul Lindsay, making his debut, in midfield, was chasing down everything and not letting the Spain midfielders string any passing together. A welcome sight for another midfield veteran; Barrie Tullis, to see some younger legs taking some of the workload. By now the England team had blunted the threat of the two dangermen in the Spanish side and the home team were struggling to create any clear chances. England captain Dane Cloke was starting to make some age defying runs from the full back positions to cause even more problems for the home side. Ben Knapper was also getting the chance to get forward from full back and was making some attacking runs to support the midfield. Niall Ashworth slotted in nicely at full back and also had a good runout up front when called upon.

The England forwards were now asking lots of questions of the Spain defenders and cracks were beginning to appear. It was no surprise when Alex Moore received a great ball on the edge of the area and homed in on goal, with the opposition defender making a desperate lunge to clear but only succeeding to toe-poke the ball into the bottom corner of his own net. 3-2 ahead and England were in the ascendancy now and growing in confidence.

Some tired legs were starting to show on both teams, the heat taking it's toll and making for a few scrappy challenges and loose passes. One chance for the Spain team, on the rare occasion they managed to get a shot past the solid England defence but easily mopped up by the England keeper. As the game moved into it's final few minutes, the Spain team started pushing for an equaliser which made for some space for the England attack to ask some questions. Instead England scored a fourth, some great passing culminated in the forwards swapping possession again finding Alex Moore in some space on the right side of the Spain penalty area and he made no mistake. Smashing the ball past the Spain keeper into the roof of the net to finish off any chance of a Spain comeback. 4-2 and the final whistle blew, a job well done showing a mixture of experience and youth had the answers on the day.

Mucho gracias to our hosts IES La Foia in Ibi for the wonderful hospitality and helping to make this such a special day.

If you would like to play for the England Supporters Club team look out on the England Supporters Club website for details of our next two fixtures Holland (H) and Germany (A) plus of course in France at Euro 2016.