Christian Walton
Image by: Geoff Penn
PUBLISHED
06:00 20th November 2014
by James Hilsum
It was good experience for everyone to have this shoot-out in a friendly match and it was great to get the victory afterwards."
Christian Walton
Christian Walton
Christian Walton has returned from international duty after helping England under-20s to a 4-3 penalty shoot-out victory over Portugal on Monday.
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The scores were level at 1-1 after 90 minutes in Coimbra before the match was decided on spot-kicks.
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The game followed on from a 2-2 draw with Canada at the Goldsands Stadium the previous Wednesday, where Walton was an unused substitute.
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He told seagulls.co.uk, “It was a really good game. Obviously Portugal are a strong outfit, reaching the final of the under-19 championship last year, so we knew it was going to be a tough game.
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“It was good experience for everyone to have this shoot-out in a friendly match and it was great to get the victory afterwards.
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“In the biggest games, we do a lot of research on the players ahead of a penalty shoot-out, like we do at first-team level, so you have a rough idea of where they are going to put the ball. But in this case, it was just out of the blue really and I had to make my own mind up on where to dive.
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“I think it was the third penalty that I managed to save, which was a great feeling. I also made two saves in the second half that kept us in the game, but apart from that I wasn’t really tested.”
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The draw also continued the side’s fine run of form, after winning the Four Nations Tournament in Holland last month and extending their own unbeaten run to six matches.
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“We went to Holland and beat them on their own turf and have now gone to Portugal and beaten them on penalties.
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“It’s been a good year and the manager said to the lads how brilliant it was that we kept our unbeaten run going.
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“I’ve now made five appearances for the under-20s and four for the under-19s and have been able to take my experiences into the new age group.
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“The same group of lads have moved up to the under-20s, so I haven’t had any problems settling in and they’re all a good bunch.
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“All of the teams we’ve played this year have been strong sides, so it’s been a good test for me and the international breaks have been worthwhile.” [h=3]ALBION V fulham
[/h] SaturDAY 29TH November, KICK-OFF 3PM
[h=3]ALBION V millwall
[/h] friday 12th december, KICK-OFF 7:45PM
[h=3]Albion v reading
[/h] fRiDAY 26TH decEMber, kick-off 3pm
Original article