Football: Rio- Coker off as England u21's held

Midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker was sent off as England Under-21s surrendered their 100% record in a scrappy goalless encounter with Azerbaijan in Baku.

The West Ham midfielder and Azerbaijan counterpart Elnur Abdullayev were red-carded after 77 minutes following a flare-up in the middle of the pitch which preceded a 15-man brawl.

England had won their opening three group matches in the battle to reach the 2006 UEFA Under-21 Championship finals but they struggled to come to terms with a bobbly pitch which made it difficult to play flowing football.

Jonathan Stead worked hard throughout the 90 minutes for the away side, who were deprived of strikers Carlton Cole and Darren Bent in a game of limited opportunities.

But in injury time England almost snatched victory, with Stead hitting the crossbar and then James Milner and Glen Johnson having efforts cleared off the line.

Coach Peter Taylor will be disappointed with the outcome but his side are still well placed with 10 points from their opening four games, before they resume competitive action in March.

Sportinglife

[Edited on 12/10/04 by TRD]

Missed this one, did he deserve to go?

I didn't actually see it myself, but i was told it was pretty bad and he was involved in something so i guess he must have deserved to go...

Guy at work went out there to watch the matches and said he reacted to a very tackle then it kicked off with everyone, all the dugout ran onto the pitch and had a tear-up!!