England U21 3-0 Latvia U21

Demarai Gray (centre) opened the scoring with a powerful strike

England Under-21s secured a first win of their 2019 European Under-21 Championship qualifying campaign as they dominated Latvia at Bournemouth.

Leicester City's Demarai Gray opened the scoring with a powerful finish from the corner of the area, capping a flowing move by Aidy Boothroyd's side.

Swansea loanee Tammy Abraham pounced on a heavy touch in the visitors' midfield to convert a second from 18 yards.

Kasey Palmer made it 3-0 after keeper Vladislavs Kurakins fumbled a cross.

Palmer, who like Abraham has been loaned out by Chelsea for the season - in his case to Huddersfield - only needed a simple finish for his first goal at this level.

'World Cup win underpins success'

Boothroyd handed full debuts to another Chelsea player - Fikayo Tomori, who is on loan at Hull - as well as Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold and Sheyi Ojo, Tottenham's Kyle Walker-Peters and Everton's Tom Davies.

His side had been held to a draw by the Netherlands in their opening Group 4 fixture on Friday but back on home soil, they rarely looked threatened and dominated with 71% of possession at Vitality Stadium, which was hosting its first Under-21 international.

Afterwards, the former Watford boss said his side's unbeaten start to the campaign owed a little to England's win at the summer's Under-20 World Cup, with some of those players having now stepped up to Under-21 level.

"When you're winning things, your peers, whether they are younger or older, it puts pressure on and makes it better for all of us," said Boothroyd.

"Once one's done it, confidence breeds more, providing you don't get complacent. It's a really good thing.

"You can see it in the way they perform. They're not bothered playing in front of crowds and a bit of that is because some of them are playing in the Premier League for first teams.

"They've got a lot of belief in themselves, and they also know they have a long way to go so we can be as good as a team as we want to be."

Gray leads by example

Both Gray and Abraham were substitutes for the draw with the Netherlands but their strikes put England two up by half-time.

While Abraham and Palmer's finishes owed plenty to goalkeeping error, winger Gray's angled shot was of superb quality and took him to five goals in 13 appearances at Under-21 level.

"At one point I thought he was going to play every single position, he was running around that much," added Boothroyd. "He has enormous amounts of ability."

England now sit second behind Ukraine, who beat Andorra 6-0 earlier on Tuesday. Only the nine group winners will qualify automatically, with the four best-placed runners-up playing off for the final two places.

Those 11 teams will join co-hosts Italy, who are staging the 2019 tournament along with San Marino.

England next face Scotland - who beat the Netherlands 2-0 on Tuesday - on 5 October.

• Line-ups
• Match Stats
• Live Text

Line-ups

England U21

• 1Woodman
• 2Alexander-Arnold
• 5Gomez
• 6Tomori
• 3Walker-PetersBooked at 51mins
• 4L Cook
• 8Davies
• 7OjoSubstituted forLookmanat 59'minutes
• 10PalmerSubstituted forSolankeat 70'minutes
• 11GraySubstituted forat 90'minutes
• 9AbrahamSubstituted forCalvert-Lewinat 68'minutes

Substitutes

• 12Worrall
• 13Henderson
• 14Calvert-Lewin
• 15Solanke
• 16Lookman
• 17Chilwell
• 18Maitland-Niles

Latvia U21

• 1Kurakins
• 3Litvinskis
• 5Cernomordijs
• 6Karklins
• 2Sorokins
• 7Stuglis
• 20Emsis
• 8CiganiksSubstituted forKrusatinsat 74'minutes
• 10FjodorovsBooked at 37minsSubstituted forGrinbergsat 61'minutes
• 17UldrikisSubstituted forIvanovsat 81'minutes
• 13Jurkovskis

Substitutes

• 9Kurtiss
• 11Ivanovs
• 12Zommers
• 14Liepa
• 16Krusatins
• 18Kigurs
• 21Grinbergs

Referee:

Vasilis Dimitriou

Attendance:

8,514

Match Stats

Home TeamEngland U21Away TeamLatvia U21

Possession

Home71%

Away29%

Shots

Home15

Away5

Shots on Target

Home6

Away0

Corners

Home11

Away1

Fouls

Home2

Away18

Live Text

Posted at

Match ends, England U21 3, Latvia U21 0.

Full Time

Posted at 90'+3'

Second Half ends, England U21 3, Latvia U21 0.

Posted at 90'+2'

Corner, England U21. Conceded by Vladislavs Sorokins.

Posted at 90'+1'

Corner, England U21. Conceded by Vladislavs Kurakins.

Posted at 90'+1'

Attempt saved. Tom Davies (England U21) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Ademola Lookman.

Posted at 90'

Kyle Walker-Peters (England U21) wins a free kick on the left wing.

Posted at 90'

Foul by Andris Krusatins (Latvia U21).

Posted at 90'

Demarai Gray went off injured after England U21 had used all subs.

Posted at 89'

Corner, England U21. Conceded by Vladislavs Kurakins.

Posted at 89'

Attempt saved. Dominic Calvert-Lewin (England U21) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top left corner. Assisted by Dominic Solanke.

Posted at 87'

Attempt blocked. Ademola Lookman (England U21) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

Substitution

Posted at 81'

Substitution, Latvia U21. Nikita Ivanovs replaces Robert Uldrikis.

Posted at 80'

Attempt missed. Kyle Walker-Peters (England U21) right footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Dominic Solanke with a cross.

Posted at 78'

Attempt blocked. Demarai Gray (England U21) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Ademola Lookman with a cross.

Posted at 76'

Attempt missed. Raivis Andris Jurkovskis (Latvia U21) header from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Janis Grinbergs with a cross.

Posted at 76'

Foul by Demarai Gray (England U21).

Posted at 76'

Andris Krusatins (Latvia U21) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Substitution

Posted at 74'

Substitution, Latvia U21. Andris Krusatins replaces Andrejs Ciganiks.

Posted at 72'

Attempt missed. Andrejs Ciganiks (Latvia U21) left footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the left.

Substitution

Posted at 70'

Substitution, England U21. Dominic Solanke replaces Kasey Palmer.

Goal!

Posted at 70'

Goal! England U21 3, Latvia U21 0. Kasey Palmer (England U21) right footed shot from very close range to the centre of the goal.

Posted at 69'

Corner, England U21. Conceded by Viktors Litvinskis.

Posted at 69'

Corner, England U21. Conceded by Viktors Litvinskis.

Posted at 69'

Attempt blocked. Ademola Lookman (England U21) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Demarai Gray.

Substitution

Posted at 68'

Substitution, England U21. Dominic Calvert-Lewin replaces Tammy Abraham.

Posted at 64'

Corner, England U21. Conceded by Eduards Emsis.

Posted at 64'

Attempt blocked. Tammy Abraham (England U21) right footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked.

Posted at 63'

Trent Alexander-Arnold (England U21) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 63'

Foul by Janis Grinbergs (Latvia U21).

Substitution

Posted at 61'

Substitution, Latvia U21. Janis Grinbergs replaces Vladislavs Fjodorovs.

Substitution

Posted at 59'

Substitution, England U21. Ademola Lookman replaces Sheyi Ojo.

Posted at 56'

Corner, Latvia U21. Conceded by Demarai Gray.

Posted at 55'

Attempt missed. Tammy Abraham (England U21) right footed shot from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Lewis Cook.

Posted at 54'

Corner, England U21. Conceded by Viktors Litvinskis.

Posted at 53'

Attempt missed. Demarai Gray (England U21) right footed shot from the left side of the box is too high. Assisted by Lewis Cook.

Posted at 52'

Attempt missed. Raivis Andris Jurkovskis (Latvia U21) with an attempt from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Andrejs Ciganiks with a cross following a set piece situation.

Booking

Posted at 51'

Kyle Walker-Peters (England U21) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Posted at 51'

Foul by Kyle Walker-Peters (England U21).

Posted at 51'

Vladislavs Fjodorovs (Latvia U21) wins a free kick on the right wing.

Posted at 50'

Corner, England U21. Conceded by Kriss Karklins.

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