Southgate Delighted With Performance and Portman Road Crowd
Tuesday, 15th Oct 2013 22:32

England U21s boss Gareth Southgate was delighted with his side’s performance in their 5-0 victory over Lithuania and also with the 17,067 crowd which turned up to watch the game at Portman Road on the same night that the senior team confirmed their World Cup qualification by beating Poland 2-0 at Wembley.

Southgate enjoyed his team’s display: “I was really pleased. I think we’ve threatened to get a result like that in a couple of our other matches and tonight we were a bit more ruthless in front of goal.

“At times I thought we were really enjoyable to watch, as a coach. We know that there is great potential amongst the squad of players and what we’ve got to do is mould them into a team and that’s starting to come.”

He says he’s always liked coming to Portman Road: “I’ve enjoyed playing here as a player and, because of my age, I’m very aware of the history of the club and the turnout from the fans was fantastic tonight.

“Given that we’ve got such an important game [at Wembley], to get a crowd of that size was brilliant.

“Everybody’s made us very welcome and I’m delighted that we’ve put on the exhibition that we have because when so many people turn out you want to play in the manner that we did.

“It’s not my decision [whether the U21s will return to Town] and obviously there are a lot of clubs that we’d like to take England to, and it’s important that clubs around the country get the opportunity to see the team, but we certainly won’t hesitate to come back.”

Photo: Action Images

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WeirdFishes added 22:55 - Oct 15 Would be great to get more of theses games at FPR
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PimsOclock added 08:03 - Oct 16 Well done England. I can't help but feel sad though as the last game of this type I attended at FPR had four ITFC players in the squad, three of which were local home-grown regulars! Hope we can do it again one day!!
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