Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill hailed several of the younger members of his squad, following the 1-0 victory over West Ham at Villa Park.
A Craig Gardner goal proved to be enough for victory, with Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor also catching O'Neill's eye.
He said: "We played some great stuff in the first half and Ashley was mesmeric. He was a great outlet for us and caused havoc. There were moments in the game when he was unplayable. The confidence he has got comes from having great ability. Agbonlahor was also terrific for us and he is getting stronger and better by the game. We should have capitalised more in the first half and then West Ham came at us after the break and had the bulk of possession. I think our exertions at Tottenham earlier in the week may have taken their toll and when we freshened things up we started to get a grip again."
Meanwhile, O'Neill also praised the efforts of the fit-again Martin Laursen, who was a rock at the heart of defence.
"Martin Laursen is just brilliant for us," O'Neill added. "He is as brave as a lion, sometimes he goes in for balls he can't win. But it's better he's like that rather than not going in at all. He has been majestic for us. He ended the game with his head heavily bandaged after having three stitches in his head, but we wanted to get him back on."
04 10 2007
Stuart Pearce has named his England Under 21 squad for the Euro 2009 qualifiers against Montenegro and Republic of Ireland.
Manchester City's impressive Michael Johnson has been recalled, while Preston full-back Billy Jones has earned his first call-up.
Johnson missed the away victories over Montenegro and Bulgaria through injury, but after some excellent performances for his club he is likely to feature in the forthcoming fixtures.
An injury to Michael Mancienne has created an opening for Jones, while Birmingham City's Cameron Jerome has been included after impressing Pearce with his performance against Manchester United.
"Cameron has forced his way in at club level. I saw him play against Manchester United and thought he caused them problems and was a handful," Pearce said.
"Also Billy Jones has come in, to supplement what we've got, since losing Michael Mancienne to injury, so we just hope we don't lose any more."
After an excellent start to their qualifying campaign Pearce has emphasised the need to drive on and improve in their upcoming back-to-back fixtures.
"We need to capitalise on the two games coming up," he added.
"The two results out in Montenegro and Bulgaria were very good, we couldn't ask for any more from the players. We haven't conceded a goal in the two games, we've scored five, picked up maximum points, but we now need to capitalise on the two games coming up. But it just goes to show the mark of the group, we feel that we have picked up two very good results away from home, but we're not top of the group."
England Under 21 squad:
Goalkeepers: Ben Alnwick (on loan at Luton Town), Joe Hart (Manchester City), Joe Lewis (on loan at Morecambe)
Defenders: Martin Cranie (Portsmouth), Craig Gardner (Aston Villa), Billy Jones (Preston North End), Nedum Onuoha (Manchester City), Andrew Taylor (Middlesbrough), Steven Taylor (Newcastle United), David Wheater (Middlesbrough)
Midfielders: Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham Hotspur), Adam Johnson (on loan at Watford), Michael Johnson (Manchester City), Michael Kightly (Wolves), James Milner (Newcastle United), Fabrice Muamba (Birmingham City), Mark Noble (West Ham United), Andrew Surman (Southampton)
Forwards: Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), Dexter Blackstock (QPR), Matt Derbyshire (Blackburn Rovers), Cameron Jerome (Birmingham City), Luke Moore (Aston Villa).
01 10 2007
Republic of Ireland under-21 manager Don Givens is looking to the future after building his bridges with Sunderland forward Anthony Stokes.
Stokes was left out of the squad for last month's European Championship opener against Portugal after a misunderstanding saw him miss a friendly international in Germany in August.
But he has been restored to Givens's selection for a friendly in Sweden on Friday week as well as the second qualifier against England at Turners Cross four days later.
Givens said: 'Anthony was left out of the squad for our match against Portugal and the reasons behind that were well documented. However, that is all in the past now and I am happy to welcome Anthony back into the squad. He is a very talented footballer and we all want to see him make headlines for the right reasons. Hopefully that can begin against Sweden.'
Looking ahead to the game against England, Givens added: 'It's going to be a big test. The English under-21 squad is made-up of player who play regular Premiership football. The likes of Theo Walcott, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Tom Huddlestone are used to playing at this level. But we have quality in our squad too and we're capable of putting it up to them. We're really looking forward to the game and hopefully it will be a full house in Turner's Cross for what should be a great match.'
