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England U21's seal playoff berth after sinking Portugal

05/09/2008

England have reached the playoffs for next year's European Championship after a 2-0 win over Portugal at Wembley.

Stuart Pearce’s side secured top spot in group three after a penalty from James Milner and a strike from his Aston Villa team-mate Gabriel Agbonlahor.

England, who have not lost within the 90 minutes in three years, made a strong start with Agbonlahor a constant threat.

The Villa winger set-up Middlesbrough midfielder Adam Johnson who fired a shot inches wide early on.

Portugal's best chance of the first half fell to Adelino Vieirinha who headed straight at goalkeeper Joe Hart.

Chelsea defender Michael Mancienne came close to his first career goal after he failed to connect with Tom Huddlestone’s free-kick.

And England’s dominance paid off on the stroke of half-time when they were awarded a penalty after Fabrice Muamba was brought down by Machada Paulo, with Milner slotting home the spot-kick.

The home side cranked up the tempo in the second half with Milner and Huddlestone both going close with long-range efforts.

Agbonlahor made the game safe on 63 minutes when he ran onto Mark Noble's through ball and squeezed the ball past the keeper from a tight angle.

Minutes later, Lee Cattermole was unlucky not to grab England's third when his shot was well saved by Rui Patricio.

England were unable to add to their advantage in the closing minutes but the win was enough to book their playoff place.