March 7 2002

Crystal Palace

Eagles starlet Wayne Routledge netted twice as England Under-17s beat Scotland 3-1 in a European Championships qualifier.

He got his first after 19 minutes when he ran on and scored from a ball over the top and his second from close range after half-time. He was awarded man of the match for his efforts.

England moved closer to qualification with the win in Bristol and have another qualifier against Lithuania coming up.

Newcastle midfielder Ross Gardner scored the other goal in a game England dominated from the start, leaving the watching Football Association technical director Howard Wilkinson delighted.

Routledge is a regular fixture in the England side and was one of the youngest ever Palace players to start for Palace when he came on as a substitute against West Brom in October and has been earning rave reviews for the youth team.

Selhurst team-mate Gary Borrowdale is another promising youngster who is part of the England squad.