Dutch mastered by Platt's England

Vassell had to go off in the second half with injury

England U-21s 4-0 Holland U-21s

England Under-21s gave their senior counterparts a boost thanks to a comprehensive victory over Holland at the Madejski Stadium.

Darius Vassell gave manager David Platt the perfect start to his England Under-21 reign when he scored a superb individual goal after just five minutes.

The Aston Villa striker struck an unstoppable left-foot shot from 25-yards past goalkeeper Dorus de Vries.

Jonathan Greening challenges Dutch keeper De Vries

And Defoe doubled the lead on 48 minutes with his first touch of the match.

The 18-year-old, on as a replacement for the injured Vassell, needed just four seconds to get onto the scoresheet when he buried the ball into the roof of the Dutch net from six yards.

The visitors were unlucky not to pull a goal back when they hit the crossbar on 56 minutes.

Malcolm Christie added England's third in the 87th minute after excellent work from Defoe.

And the West Ham striker wrapped up proceedings when he coolly slotted past Serge Van Der Ban for England's fourth.

"I thought for 25 minutes we did exactly what we tried to do on the training pitch," said a jubilant Platt.

"In the last 15 minutes of the first half we stood off a little bit and let them in - let them get in areas higher up the pitch."

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England U-21s: Stuart Taylor, Young, Bridge, Davis, Terry, Barry, Greening, Dunn, Jeffers, Chadwick, Vassell. Subs: Johnson, Bywater, Prutton, Riggott, Bramble, Pennant, Parker, Christie, Defoe, Wilson, Wright.

Holland U21s: De Vries, Schuurman, Wisgerhof, Knol, Bosschaart, Touzani, van der Meyde, Janssen, Kuyt, van der Gun, Zonneveld. Subs: Mendes Da Silva, van Nieuwstadt, van der Vaart, Robben, van den Ban, Kromkamp, Broerse, Hersi, van Dinteren.

Referee: Kristin Jacobson (Iceland).