Tyson strikes twice to dazzle Germany

England Under-20 2 Germany Under-20 1

Nathan Tyson, of Reading, lit up his home town with a fine double strike on a dream England debut here last night as Les Reed's Under-20 side beat their German counterparts for the second time in four months.

Tyson's impact was immediate, and he had the first chance of the game with less than a minute played. Aston Villa's Leon Hylton played him in, but the 20-year-old snatched at the opportunity and blasted a shot over the crossbar. Tyson made amends in the eighth minute, however, holding off Michael Rundio from Brian Howard's chipped pass to finish emphatically into the far corner.

England kicked off their campaign in this series of international friendly matches with an impressive 2-1 win in Germany, but had since lost to Italy and Switzerland. They allowed the German captain, Mike Hanke, a free header from Malik Fathi's cross to level the scores 13 minutes before the break. But Tyson scored a copy of his first goal with another stunning left-foot volley in the 62nd minute to give England an encouraging victory, which sets them up nicely for the World Youth Championships in the United Arab Emirates in March.

When Tyson was substituted in the 68th minute, no doubt to save him for Reading's next match against Gillingham on Monday, he was given a standing ovation from the 16,820 crowd – a record for an Under-20 international.

ENGLAND UNDER-20: Lonergan (Preston); Hoyte (Arsenal), Hylton (Aston Villa), Bowditch (Tottenham), Leacock (Fulham), Garry (Arsenal), Chopra (Newcastle), Welsh (Liverpool), Tyson (Reading), Carter (Birmingham), Howard (Southampton). Substitutes: Cooke (Aston Villa) for Bowditch, Fox (Manchester Utd) for Howard, O'Hanlon (Everton) for Hoyte.

GERMANY UNDER-20: Walke (Haas); Chahed, Meyer, Husterer, Rundio, Fathi, Odonkor, Schultz, Schied, Schlaudraff, Hanke.

Referee: M Trefoloni (Italy).