Report: England MU18s 4-1 Bulgaria

England men’s under-18s did most of the damage in the first 45 minutes to beat Bulgaria 4-1, with a late goal adding to the scoreline in their first UEFA U19 EURO 2027 Qualifier.

On the home kit’s first use across all England teams, the Young Lions delivered early control as a goal from Reigan Heskey and two from Chizaram Ezenwata all but downed Bulgaria.

But all hope wasn’t lost, as Borislav Stoichkov grabbed a goal back in the second half to keep the Young Lions on their toes.

Lorenz Hutchinson's goal in stoppage time made an arduous task an impossible one for England's opponents.

It was Bulgaria who made the early running at Sportski Park when Kristian Mihaylov and Kaloyan Bozhkov twice went close within the opening 60 seconds.

As it was, the Young Lions were perhaps lucky to escape going a goal behind, but Ben Futcher’s side switched it on and reversed the damage when Heskey bent the ball into the bottom corner to put England ahead.

And it was 2-0 less than four minutes later, as Reggie Walsh again played his part in setting up club teammate Ezenwata for a simple finish for England’s second in Croatia.

Chances kept coming, this time for Mihaylov, whose effort went the wrong side of the post by a matter of inches.

Plamen Penev then needed to be alert to shut the door on Louis Page and Heskey, who both had efforts met with half an hour on the clock.

Ezenwata added his second and England’s third on 34 minutes, when he showed great individual skill to pick out the bottom corner.

Freddy Bernal was called into a rare action when Mihaylov had an attempt on goal, but it was nothing that the Young Lions’ stopper couldn’t deal with.

With England in control, some of the MU18s' vim and intensity lowered down a notch, though Ezenwata went wide in the 51st minute.

Stoichkov got a goal back for his nation when the defender met Marto Boychev’s wide delivery, but in the end it was too little, too late.

Hutchinson then piled on the damage and made it 4-1 a minute into stoppage time when the substitute beat Penev.

Brad Burrowes' late effort was near an anomaly in a half that had very little action, but more importantly, it puts the Young Lions on the right path to secure qualification for the competition proper next summer.

England: 13 Freddy Bernal (Chelsea), 3 Landon Emenalo (Chelsea), 4 Freddie Simmonds (Brighton & Hove Albion), 6 Kaden Braithwaite (Manchester City), 8 Louis Page (Leicester City), 9 Chizaram Ezenwata (Chelsea), 10 Reggie Walsh (Chelsea), 11 Reigan Heskey (Manchester City), 12 Wesley Okoduwa (Wolverhampton Wanderers), 14 Godwill Kukonki (Manchester United), 20 Jeremy Monga (Leicester City)

Substitutions: 7 Brad Burrowes (Aston Villa) for Monga 60’, 19 Lorenz Hutchinson (Leicester City) for Heskey 70’, 18 Benjamin Casey (Crystal Palace) for Ezenwata, 16 Harrison Miles (Manchester City) for Walsh 77’

Substitutes not used: 1 Jack Porter (Arsenal), 2 Dante Headley (Manchester City), 5 Malachi Hardy (Tottenham Hotspur), 15 Dean Benamar (Crystal Palace), 17 Finlay Gorman (Manchester City)

Goals: Heskey 11’, Ezenwata 14’, 34’, Hutchinson 91'

Head coach: Ben Futcher