Football: Mills leads charge

Hungary Under-21 2 England Under-21

KEVIN KEEGAN, the England coach, missed a second-half fightback by the Under-21 team in their friendly international with Hungary here last night.

Keegan left at half-time with England trailing 2-0 in conditions barely fit for football after a thunderstorm had left pools of water all over the Ferencvaros pitch - and, in the first half, England struggled to adapt as they were punished twice by Denes Rosa. To add to their woes, Andrew Griffin suffered a twisted ankle and was carried off after 29 minutes, a concern for the Newcastle defender with the FA Cup final on 22 May.

It was a different story in the second period, however. Charlton's impressive defender Danny Mills was involved in both goals which brought England level, scoring the first himself and winning the penalty converted by James Beattie.

Hungary needed only three minutes to break the deadlock courtesy of a splendid free kick from Rosa, who curled his 20-yard effort past the despairing dive of the England captain Richard Wright. In the 25th minute the home side increased their lead after Gareth Barry sent a pass in the direction of Mills. The Charlton defender slipped and it enabled Rosa to have a clear run before chipping the ball over Wright.

Mills gave England a 53rd-minute lifeline when he headed into an unguarded net after Balazs Raboczki had charged off his line. Two minutes later Mills was brought down in the penalty area by Attila Baumgartner.

HUNGARY UNDER-21: Raboczki; Filo, Eger, Balazs (Zobath, 80), Rosa, Baumgartner (Balasko, 83), Boor, Kacat, Vayer (Ven, 78), Stark, Ferencvi.

ENGLAND UNDER-21: Wright (Ipswich Town), Griffin (Newcastle Utd), Mills (Charlton), Young (Tottenham), Barry (Aston Villa), Curtis (Manchester Utd); Mullins (Crystal Palace), Woodhouse (Sheffield Utd), Greening (Manchester Utd), Beattie (Southampton), Euell (Wimbledon). Substitutes: Bridge (Southampton) for Griffin, 29; Cresswell (Sheffield Wednesday) for Euell, h-t; Cort (Wimbledon) for Beattie, 67.

Referee: H Albrecht (Germany).