England finally off the mark at Junior World Cup

ENGLAND Under-21s finally got off their Junior World Cup campaign up and running in Malaysia and Singapore with a 4-0 victory over hapless USA.

Andy Halliday's young squad started the tournament poorly with a 1-0 defeat to Malaysia and a 2-1 loss against Spain, and appeared shorn of confidence as they took on the Pool C whipping boys.

England were lacklustre in the first half but still came out on top with a Henry Weir rebound separating the two sides at the break.

A Johnny Kinder double just after half time helped settle any nerves and Chris Gregg finished the game off in style with a solo-effort on 51 minutes - but Halliday insisted his team should have been more dominant.

"Today's match was a must-win game," admitted Halliday, "Although the manner in which we achieved it was disappointing.

"We are looking forward to the challenge of playing Korea tomorrow but we know our performance needs to be much sharper if we are going to take anything from that match."

England face Pool C leaders Korea, who have won all three of their matches without conceding, on Friday before progressing to the second stage pools where they will vie for ninth - 16th positions.