Smalling gives England a 'massive push' forward

England were indebted to Chris Smalling after his late winner against Romania gave them the edge and, according to the defender, "a massive push to take into the second leg" of their 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship play-off on Tuesday.

After Ioan Hora had cancelled out Jordan Henderson's 63rd-minute opener in Norwich, Manchester United FC's Smalling turned in a corner five minutes from time to give Stuart Pearce's side the slenderest of leads to defend in Botosani.

"We knew it was going to be a tough game," Smalling said. "It was great to get the first goal, because that allowed us to start opening up some pockets because we found them very hard to break down. Their goal didn't get us down; we kept our head up and it paid off in the end. The boys were terrific tonight and it's a great result for us."

Pearce, though, will have to do without Jack Wilshere in Romania after confirming that the influential 18-year-old midfielder will link up with the senior side for Tuesday's UEFA EURO 2012 qualifier against Montenegro.
"Part of me thinks I would have liked him in Romania but we feel we have quality in the squad and whoever plays will do themselves proud on Tuesday," Pearce said.

"I hope Jack gets a game against Montenegro. The one thing that really pleases me is that Jack would have been quite happy to get on the plane and come to Romania with us. And part of him feels he is being taken away form the Under-21s – in a nice way – but his attitude is fantastic. He is an outstanding player and he deserves to be with the seniors."

Romania coach Emil Sandoi, meanwhile, could take heart from the performance despite an "unhappy result". He said: "We played against one of the best European teams and we still have hopes of qualifying. But I have to say it's an unhappy result, because we played well in the first half but missed some good opportunities.

"In the second half the crowd put some pressure on us and in Botosani we will have to be much more focused because at this level if you make individual mistakes you immediately get punished. In the second leg we must convert take our chances."