Ugly scenes as Under 21s lose 3-1



By Myles Palmer

Disgusting gamesmanship by Greece last night as they deservedly beat England 3-1.

Dim team selection by Howard Wilkinson meant a poor first half performance by Carrick, Defoe et al.

But the cheating by the Greeks was just horrible.

I could not bear it – diving, time-wasting, rolling around on the floor after tackles, obstructions. Pathetic!

The Russian ref was a homer and a Muppet.

He let things get out of control long before right back Luke Young over-reacted to blatant time-wasting and pushed a Greek near the end after Carrick had scored a 25 yard consolation goal.

Skipper John Terry saw red too after a two-footed tackle which got the ball – and the man.

Steve Gerrard will be in big trouble tonight if he plays his normal tackling game !

Every time Scholes nudges somebody he will roll over 26 times holding his shin.

Until I saw the Under-21s I was really looking forward to tonight’s game.

Now I’m not.

Now I’m dreading it.

Oh well!

5th June 2001.