England Under 21s boss Stuart Pearce played down his side's defeat following the 3-2 loss to an Ecuador XI.
England U21s boss not too concerned by defeat
England Under 21s boss Stuart Pearce played down his side's defeat following the 3-2 loss to an Ecuador XI.
England had not lost since 2005, only against Holland on penalties, and they established a 2-0 lead in Malaga thanks to goals from Adam Johnson and Fraizer Campbell.
Ecuador, who fielded a number of senior players, came back strongly after the interval but Pearce was not too concerned by the eventual result.
"It was about experience and it served us very well," Pearce said. "They had 500 senior caps between them, we had five."
Pearce does not believe England's long unbeaten run will count for much unless they triumph at the European Championship in Sweden.
"It will matter in the final only," he said.
"The positive thing is we've only been beaten in a penalty shoot-out and have still not lost to a team in our own age group."
Pearce added: "The two goals would grace any pitch in the world.
"We were happy with 2-0 against an Ecuador senior side. We gave away three sloppy goals. Maybe a draw would have been fair but the main thing was playing against a team with a different style."
