Coach Gareth
Southgate hailed the performance of attack Jack Grealish as England recorded a
comfortable 3-0 victory over the Republic of Ireland in Thursday’s friendly with
defender Harry Maguire also getting on the scoresheet.

Redeeming
his sending off against Denmark in his last appearance for the Three Lions,
Maguire captained England for the first time and opened the first goal of the
night at Wembley.

A turbulent
season so far has seen the world’s most expensive centre-back being dragged
into a court case in Greece and record a poor start with Manchester United. However,
Maguire shrugged off all concerns with an impressive showing as he drew first
blood for England.

Borussia
Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho scored the second goal before Everton striker Dominic
Calvert-Lewin tripled England’s advantage from the spot shortly after the
half-time break.

Having represented
the Republic’s Under-21s, Grealish continued his fine run of form for club and
country as ran the show from the left flank.

“The two
players in those roles, Jadon and Jack, they’ve got the freedom to go either
side of the pitch and try and create overloads. I thought at times both of them
did that really well. Of course, as soon as they are turned and running at
people, they are a real problem for the opponent,” AFP quoted Southgate saying.

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17-year-old
Jude Bellingham became the third-youngest player to represent England when replaced
Mason Mount in the 73rd minute. Having left Birmingham City for Borussia
Dortmund in the summer, he is behind only Theo Walcott and Wayne Rooney in that
list.

Having
rested senior players like Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson
ahead of UEFA Nations League fixtures against Belgium and Iceland on Sunday and
Wednesday respectively, Southgate was impressed by the showing from the younger
talents at his disposal.

“I was very
pleased with the way the boys played. A lot of young players, a lot of
inexperienced players, we used the ball very well, created a lot of chances,
could have been more comfortable if we’d taken some of those chances but
overall very pleased,” Southgate said.

“We were a
bit slow at the start but that’s understandable. It’s not a team that have had
a lot of time to work together. The longer they went on, some of the interplay,
some of the play between our attacking 10s and our wing-backs in particular was
very good,” he added.

Maguire put
England ahead in the 18th minute when Harry Winks crossed back into the area
and the defender rose above Shane Duffy to head past Darren Randolph for his
second goal in an England shirt.

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Sancho has
been struggling to find his peak form for Borussia Dortmund this season, but
the winger showed his quality to double England’s lead in the 31st
minute. Grealish teed him up on the left side of the Ireland area and Sancho
shifted the ball onto his right foot before curling a low strike past Randolph.

Bukayo Saka
won a penalty in the 56th minute when he wriggled past Cyrus Christie, who
responded with a clear trip on the Arsenal wing-back.

Everton
striker Calvert-Lewin stroked the spot-kick high into the roof of the net for
his second England goal. Manchester United’s Dean Henderson had come on for his
England debut at half-time, replacing Nick Pope in goal, but he was barely
tested as the hosts cruised to the final whistle.