Hines fires England after replacing injured Walcott
England U-21 6 Macedonia U-21 3
The England Under-21 side secured victory over Macedonia in a breathless European Championship qualifier in Coventry where Theo Walcott was substituted at half-time with a dead leg.
The Arsenal striker, whose participation for the Under-21s has been a bone of contention for Arsène Wenger in the past, was making only his second appearance since returning from a lower back injury.
A 20,074 crowd here were treated to a thrilling game as England were made to work hard for their three points. Kieran Gibbs with a far-post header from Walcott's cross and Micah Richards at a corner put them in control before Muarem Muarem made it 2-1 at the interval.
A blistering start to the second half saw Macedonia make it 3-3 in the space of six minutes through Agim Ibraimi after a mistake by Michael Mancienne and a Gibbs own goal from a Ibraimi corner, with Andy Carroll scoring for England with a near-post flick to a Gibbs cross.
However, Zavon Hines, who came on for Walcott, made it 4-3 in the 67th minute, running onto Tom Cleverley's through ball before putting his finish between the legs of goalkeeper Kristijan Naumovski. Carroll then fired home when a Cleverley cross was not properly cleared and Hines, who was making his debut, also grabbed his second in injury-time with a neat volley.
England Under-21: Loach (Watford); Richards (Man City), Mancienne (Chelsea), Tomkins (West Ham), Gibbs (Arsenal); Wilshere (Arsenal), Cleverley (Watford), Rodwell (Everton), Rose (Tottenham), Walcott Arsenal), Carroll (Newcastle). Substitutes used: Hines (West Ham) for Walcott, h-t; Muamba (Bolton) for Rose, 69; Welbeck (Man United) for Carroll, 90.
Macedonia Under-21: Naumoski; Georgievski, Bogdanovic, Dimitrovski, Lazevski (Nestoroski, 72), Aliu, Stojkov, Muarem, Siljanovski (Kostencovski, 64), Ivanovski (A Stankov 90), Ibraimi.
Referee: F Fautrel (France)
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies