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England U21's Hammer San Marino 9-0

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On a night where the senior team again failed to shine, the England U21 team took care of their business.

Michael Steele

Bored with the England senior side? well the U21's are firing on all cylinders under coach Gareth Southgate as they maintained their unbeaten run in the Euro 2015 Qualification games by trouncing San Marino 9-0.

First lets put this one into context, San Marino are a very poor team, made up of mainly part time footballers. However sometimes they can be tricky to break down to begin with, fortunately for England they managed to get to them early and often.

It was England's biggest win in 37 years as Danny Ings (2), Raheem Sterling (2), Michael Keane, James Ward-Prowse, Thomas Ince, Carl Jenkinson and Will Hughes all got their names on the scoresheet.

Recognising that this was a good opportunity to play some of his fringe players, there was no starting spot for Zaha, Morrison, Luke Shaw or Nathaniel Chalobah. Top goalscorer Saido Berahino was suspended for the game after receiving a yellow card against Finland for lifting his shirt and celebrating his goal with a message to his deceased father.

However this was a night of celebration for the whole team, England have now played 6, won 5 and drawn 1 in their group and look set to qualify for the competition.

It was a night to remember for Thomas Ince as he scored once and had 4 assists, showing that he may be ready to take a leap to the Premier League and show his class against better opposition. However in truth it was a night where San Marino barely managed to get out of their half, struggling to maintain possession. England went into the half 5-0 to the good and looking to rest key players like goalkeeper Jack Butland.

England now head into the winter break top of their group by 3 points having played one less game than their closest rivals Montenegro who sit 2nd on 13 points.