Football: Platt may turn to goal hero Cole

West Ham star Joe Cole has been warned he could yet be drafted back into David Platt's England Under-21 squad.

Cole came off the bench for the seniors on Tuesday to score his first goal at that level, a stunning late free-kick winner, in the 2-1 friendly victory over Serbia & Montenegro at Leicester's Walkers Stadium.

The 21-year-old is not only hoping he has now seen the back of the Under-21s, but that he has done enough to start under Sven Goran Eriksson for Wednesday's European Championship qualifier against Slovakia in Middlesbrough.

However, with only 18 players permitted to pull on an England shirt for the game at the Riverside from the 23 Eriksson initially selected, Cole may miss out.

That could lead to him helping Under-21 coach Platt's side for their match against the Slovaks 24 hours earlier at Sunderland's Stadium of Light.

"Joe did well on Tuesday, but at the end of the day that's not going to necessarily dictate whether he's going to be in the starting line-up because there were a lot of good performances,'' said Platt.

"Obviously I can understand his desire to want to play with the seniors and I don't have a problem with that.

"I wouldn't expect anything else because where would you rather be? Of course you'd sooner be with the seniors.

"But if you asked him whether he'd rather be in the Under-21s or sat in the stands at the Riverside then it might be a different answer.

"But to be honest I'm not expecting any players to drop into my squad, although if they are not going to be involved on Wednesday then it's better they are with me. We will have to wait and see."

Platt is hoping for the sake of the likes of Cole, Aston Villa's Gareth Barry and Newcastle's Jermaine Jenas, they retain their places in the full squad.

"I've waved goodbye to Jermaine,'' added Platt.

"You never know with the way things pan out, but I don't expect to see JJ in my squad on Tuesday.

"The most likely player to come back is Gareth Barry, but then I don't know if he will either because they are pretty short of defenders."

Joe vole will get his chance aswell as the other players,as long as they keep putting in good performances....

It wont be too bad if he drops back to the u21 as it is more experience for him and the others...

I don't think it will be a bad thing but it will be very demotivating for the player to be effectivly dropped. He will start wondering when he is ever going to be a regular.