A LATE GOAL from Armstrong Oko-Flex saw Ireland U21s earn a 2-2 draw with England U20s in Zagreb, Croatia today.
The FC Zurich youngster saw his initial penalty saved in the 88th minute before converting the rebound in this afternoon’s friendly.
Boss Jim Crawford had rung the changes following Friday’s 3-2 win over Croatia.
Only three players kept their place in the starting XI — Bosun Lawal, Sean Roughan and skipper Joe Hodge.
Meanwhile, there were first starts at U21 level for Killian Cahill, Mark O’Mahony, Alex Murphy and Connor O’Brien.
An Ollie O’Neill lay-off from a Tony Springett pass set up a superb low strike by Hodge from the edge of the area to hand Ireland an early lead before their opponents produced a strong response.
After a relatively even opening half, England struck either side of the break to go ahead.
The equaliser came when Gent youngster Archie Brown scored in first-half stoppage time.
Just after the break a penalty from Tottenham’s Dane Scarlett put his side in command, after substitute Anselmo Garcia MacNulty fouled Norwich youngster Abu Kamara in the area.
Both sides made several changes as the game wore on and Ireland went close to an equaliser on more than one occasion before finally getting their reward late in the game.
Oko-Flex won the penalty himself after being taken down inside the area and made no mistake at the second attempt after an initial good save by Jed Ward.
Each team could have secured a dramatic winner in the dying moments — Connor O’Riordan saw a header saved while Jobe Bellingham sent a free kick from the edge of the area over the bar.
“For me, when we kept possession of the ball and got into key areas of the pitch, we caused them problems,” Crawford said afterwards.
“I was just delighted for the likes of Mark O’Mahony making his first U21 start against that quality of opposition. Rocco Vata, Alex Murphy and Connor O’Brien played too, so we have some young players who can go again for the next campaign. It wasn’t like we had a year or two up on England’s U20s.
“Our objective coming to Croatia was to get everyone on the pitch. Nobody let their country down, absolutely nobody.”
Ireland: Cahill (Brooks 58); Lawal (Abankwah 85), Murphy (O’Riordan 77), O’Brien (Curtis 59); Roughan (Garcia MacNulty 46), Hodge (Noonan 77), Adeeko (Healy 58), O’Neill, (Armstrong 58) Springett (Oko-Flex 77); Vata (Moran 46); O’Mahony (Emakhu 58).
England: Ward, Fisher, Brown, Braybrooke, Hughes, Kamara, Scarlett ©, Baker-Boaitey, Hills, Godo, Matos: Substitutes: Simkin, Stetford, Cisse, Nelson, Bellingham, Dixon, Casey, Buck, Alves, Cadamarteri Esse, Chrisene
Referee: Ivan Vučkovic (Croatia)
