Source: Team_Talk
Walcott injury not serious - Pearce
A crowd of 20,074 at the Ricoh Arena watched a breathless European Under-21 Championship qualifier as Pearce's young lions survived a scare to keep their Group Nine ambitions very much on track.[LNB]Having beaten Macedonia 2-1 in their opening clash in Prilep and drawn 1-1 at leaders Greece, the victory keeps England in second place - three points behind with a game in hand.[LNB]But possibly the biggest talking point after the full-time whistle was the fitness of Walcott - who had to be substituted at the interval.[LNB]The Arsenal forward only made his return from a lower back injury in last weekend's Premier League victory over Blackburn, but Pearce was adamant his latest scare was nothing to worry about.[LNB]"He got a dead leg when he bumped into Andy Carroll but he will be fine," he said.[LNB]"I can't see it lasting too long, I would have thought after the weekend he would okay.[LNB]"But obviously with his injury record early season, the physios thought it was prudent to bring him off the pitch.[LNB]"We've looked after him more than probably the injury entails."[LNB]Pearce revealed on Thursday that the 20-year-old could possibly be called into Fabio Capello's senior squad for Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against Belarus should the opportunity arise.[LNB]And he stated that may still be the case should he be needed.[LNB]"If they don't have any injuries in Ukraine tomorrow then I would have thought Fabio will go with the same squad," added Pearce.[LNB]"If they cop a few injuries then it will be situation to have a look at him, if Fabio so wishes.[LNB]"I know Theo and I know what he's like and the passion he's got to represent his country.[LNB]"If there's an opportunity there I'm sure he will do everything he could to be available."[LNB]Kieran Gibbs and Micah Richards put England into a commanding 2-0 lead before Muarem Muarem gave the visitors a lifeline just before the break.[LNB]And a whirlwind period shortly after the restart saw the scoreline read 3-3 within six second-half minutes, as Agim Ibraimi and Newcastle striker Carroll found the net before Gibbs put past his own keeper.[LNB]But a brace from West Ham debutant Zavon Hines and another from Carroll secured the points, and left Pearce with a host of differing emotions.[LNB]"It was a mixed bag to say the least," he said. "There's not too many 6-3 scorelines at Under-21 level for England that's for sure.[LNB]"There was some fantastic forward play, defensively we let in some poor goals but I think collectively, as a team, we probably have to defend a little bit better.[LNB]"But we know we've got talent in the squad to go and score a goal and create a goal and we demonstrated that tonight.[LNB]"Not only did we score six goals but we looked as though we could score one or two more as well.[LNB]"From my point of view, there's things to work on but things to work on in a positive manner as well."[LNB][LNB]
