Cyprus Under 21 v Wales Under-21 - friendly match. - 15 November 2005. |
 Brain Flynn’s side drew 3-3 against Cyprus Under-21 in Paphos this afternoon. A very young and inexperienced side at this level started the game with two new caps in goalkeeper Sam Pearce (Bristol City) and right back Rhys Powell (Bolton). A first half double strike from Kyriakos Pavlou gave the home side the lead twice, but Wales fought back with goals from Mark Jones and David Cotterill after 31 and 40 minutes. In the second half the visitors were down to 10-men after 55 minutes after substitute midfielder Matthew Crowell was sent off for serious foul play. Cyprus took the lead very late on with a goal from Giorgos Eleftheriou, but Flynn’s side equalised in the closing seconds with a own goal from Yiannis Efthimiou, his clearance looping over the home keeper to earn Wales’ a draw. Wales team line up. Pearce (Letheren 75), Powell (Crowell 52), Spender, Jacobson (James 75), Nyatanga, Davies (Anthony 52), Pulis (Wiggins 52), Crofts, Jones, Calliste (Pritchard 60), Cotterill. . "It was a really strange game. At half-time nobody had even noticed the referee, but after the break he just took over with all sorts of silly decisions. He even booked one of our players when he was head-butted, which is an amazing decision by any standards. I thought Matthew Crowell's tackle was fair, I had a good view of it. But the red card was out and the game restarted with a free-kick for us, that said it all. Our performance was poor [in the] first half, but the second was better. Cotterill was excellent, he scored a fine goal while Mark Jones was the best player on the pitch. It was all part of their education for when they get into in the senior squad, they will not have to play too many games like that." - Brian Flynn taken from BBC Sport - Squad List - Squad update: Cyprus. - update 12.11.2005 |
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