Franks starts as England C suffer late heartbreak in Slovakia
Town defender Fraser Franks was named captain as England C were beaten 1-0 by Slovakia U23s in their International Challenge Trophy Group A clash on Saturday.
Martin Vrablec’s 81st-minute cracker proved the difference as Paul Fairclough’s Three Lions must now go to Turkey in October and win if they are to keep their ICT hopes alive.
Fairclough said: “I’m very, very proud. We could not have done any more, obviously scoring a goal would be helpful, but I could go through the whole squad and every single player had an outstanding performance.
“Obviously the outcome means we’ve got to go and win in Turkey and we’ve got to go and win against Estonia. But we can take confidence from this performance.”
England C now travel to Hungary for Szusza Ferenc Stadium in Budapest.
England C: Walker; Yiadom, Roberts, Franks, Demetriou, Bradley (Marwood 86), Payne, Pearson, (Gallagher 80), Marsh-Brown (Maddison 70), Norwood (Taylor 86), Frear (Fitzpatrick 90).
Subs not used: Coughlin, MacDonald.