Pearce wary of Wales threat

Stuart Pearce was delighted with his England U-21 side's 3-2 Euro 2009 qualifier first-leg win in Wales but warned the tie is not dead.

The Under-21 coach watched his side come from behind at Cardiff's Ninian Park as Reading's Simon Church capitalised on a defensive error to fire the Welsh youngsters ahead. However Middlesbrough duo David Wheater and Adam Johnson put the Three Lions in front, before Church's second on the stroke of half time levelled matters.

Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor grabbed the third after the break to give England the advantage going into the second leg of the play-off at Villa Park on Tuesday.

Punters will no doubt look to use a £25 free bet to back England's Under-21s to make use of home advantage and defeat Wales to progress through to next summer's finals in Sweden.

However Pearce witnessed enough from the Wales side to suggest it will not be plain-sailing in Birmingham and he has issued some words of caution for his players ahead of the game.

Pearce said: "This is not dead, we have to go to Villa Park and our only focus will be trying to win that game.

"But to win the game against a very, very good side makes me pleased."

He added: "Parts of that game I was happy with, parts I wasn't.

"Scoring three goals on our travels was good but I thought we conceded too much ground in certain areas and conceded a couple of goals.

"As a learning curve, it was a fantastic night of football."

England's defence looked shaky at times and Brian Flynn will be looking for his players to possibly grab the first goal of the game in the second leg which will pile more pressure on the hosts and give them a great chance to go through.