Sinclair Sinks Young Croats

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Scott Sinclair was the one member of Chelsea's first team squad in action on Tuesday night and he enjoyed himself, having a big hand in an England Under 19 win.

The game was a friendly against Croatia at Swindon's County Ground and the first goal in a 2-0 win was from the penalty spot, the kick won by the young Chelsea winger with a typical run at the defence. He converted it on 20 minutes for his second international goal this season.

In the 74th minute, it was from an inswinging Sinclair free-kick that captain Ciaran Clark doubled the advantage.

Two more Chelsea Academy products played in the England side. Jack Cork, currently on-loan at Scunthorpe, had a first-half shot saved. Ryan Bertrand, who has been gaining first-team experience at Norwich, joined the others in playing the whole game.

The Under 19s get down to the serious business of qualifying for the European Championships with games against Poland, Serbia and Belarus in May.

Also at Under 19 international level on Tuesday night, Miroslav Stoch's Slovakia drew a friendly 0-0 away to Greece.

Michael Mancienne, Chelsea's young centre-back in his second season on-loan QPR, was an unused sub in England Under 21s qualifier against Republic of Ireland.

England won 3-0 at Southampton to put the side on the verge of the play-offs for the Under 21 European Championships.

Also well-placed are Wales Under 21s who won 4-0 in Malta with Chelsea's reserve team keeper Rhys Taylor on the bench throughout.

Moving back down the age groups, two of Chelsea's youth team have been involved for England in an Under 17 tournament in Portugal this week that drew to a close on Tuesday.

By drawing 0-0 with the hosts on the Algarve, England finished the top side having already beaten Denmark and France.

Midfielder Jacob Mellis was not part of the Denmark game but started the other two matches and scored against France. Striker Frank Nouble, a frequent member of the Chelsea youth side despite still being a schoolboy, is new to this level. He played the whole match against Denmark and came on in the other two. England are unbeaten in ten games at Under 17 level.

The same cannot be said of the Dutch Under 17s who lost 1-0 to Czech Republic in another three-way tournament, this time in Spain. In the side was Chelsea's defender Jeffrey Bruma. The Dutch will play Ukraine on Wednesday and Norway on Friday.