U21 goals scored by Aston Villa stars James Milner and Gabriel Agbonlahor

Sep 7 2008

England U21 2

Portugal U21 0

STUART Pearce will fly to Barcelona today with glowing reports on James Milner and Gabriel Agbonlahor after they scored the goals to send England U-21s into the play-offs for Euro 2009.

Milner capped a busy week following his £12m transfer from Newcastle to Aston Villa by scoring a 44th-minute penalty.

And his new club-mate Agbonlahor showed the pace required up front in the full national team by running from halfway to seal the win after 63 minutes against a classy Portuguese team featuring Bolton's Ricardo Vaz Te.

The victory guaranteed England will top Group 3 and go into next month's two-legged qualifiers to reach Sweden next summer.

Goalkeeper Joe Hart also showed he had the big-match temperament and talent to step up to Fabio Capello's team soon.