Football: Pushy Eadie succeeds in fooling Buffon

England Under-21 1 Italy Under-21

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Darren Eadie scored a controversial goal at Ashton Gate last night that sent England four points clear at the top of Group Two in the European Under-21 Championship.

Italy had to play for the final 46 minutes with 1 men after Ivan Franceschini was sent off following two crude challenges on Emile Heskey. The defender was booked in the fifth minute for a late tackle on the Leicester striker, and then another bad challenge made a red card inevitable.

The new England captain, Riccardo Scimeca, set up the 51st-minute goal with a long clearance which was going out for a goal-kick. Gianluigi Buffon, Italy's goalkeeper, rushed off his line and tried to keep the ball in play, under pressure from Eadie. Buffon lost control and was robbed - with the aid of a push which went unseen by the officials - by Eadie, who kept his cool to squeeze the ball home from a narrow angle for his second Under-21 goal.

ENGLAND UNDER-21: Marshall (Norwich); Rose (Arsenal), Hall (Coventry), Scimeca (Aston Villa), Rufus (Charlton), Carbon (Derby), Murray (Queen's Park Rangers), Hughes (Arsenal), Heskey (Leicester), Eadie (Norwich), Bowyer (Leeds). Substitutes: Carragher (Liverpool) for Bowyer, 16; Huckerby (Coventry) for Eadie, 6; Scowcroft (Ipswich) for Heskey, 9.

ITALY UNDER-21: Buffon (Parma); Innocenti (Lucchese), Pistone (Internazionale), Goretti (Perugia), Franceschini (Marseille), Rivalta (Cesena), Bachini (Lecce), Tacchinardi (Juventus), Lucarelli (Padova), Morfeo (Atalanta), De Ascentis (Bari). Substitutes: Pesaresi (Sampdoria) for Morfeo, h-t; Bellucci (Venezia) for Bachini, 7; Locatelli (Udinese) for Goretti, 87.

Referee: R H Olsen (Norway).