Young England Fall To French

England Under-21s lost 2-0 to their French counterparts in Tuesday night's friendly international at Nottingham Forest's City Ground.France dominated and took a deserved lead midway through the first half when the ball broke kindly to Gabriel Obertan on the edge of the area and the FC Lorient midfielder struck a first-time shot into the bottom corner.Moussa Sissoko doubled France's advantage 10 minutes before the break, exquisitely lifting the ball over Joe Hart as the Manchester City keeper raced from his line.Meanwhile a goal from Chris Casement capped a rousing fightback by Northern Ireland Under-21s and gave them a 1-1 draw with their Ukraine counterparts at Portadown.The Wycombe defender got on the end of a flick from Jonny Taylor following a free-kick by Martin Donnelly to head home in the 71st minute.It was no more than Steve Beaglehole's side deserved for a fine second-half display in front of a healthy home crowd.Ukraine took the lead in the 36th minute from the penalty spot after Scott Gibb was penalised by referee Lee Evans for a challenge on Roman Zozulia.Levgenenii Konoplianka showed good composure to send goalkeeper Trevor Carson the wrong way from the spot.But the visitors, who managed a draw against European Championship finalists Serbia last week, found themselves on the back foot for most of the second half before Casement's deserved equaliser.

Source: Eurosport