West Brom star leads the way as young Lions prepare for penalties

Tuesday, October 16, 2012
7:53 AM

England Under-21 boss Stuart Pearce is convinced his team are ready for penalties it come to that in their Euro 2013 play-off against Serbia.

Pearce is all too aware of England’s poor record in shoot-outs but he could see his current side involved in one tonight if they fail to sufficiently protect their 1-0 lead in their play-off second leg in Krusevac.

Pearce will hope it does not come to that but in West Brom defender Craig Dawson, who scored the only goal of last week’s first leg from the spot, he knows he has at least one accomplished penalty taker.

Pearce told TheFA.com: “We’re all ready for penalties as we normally are. We practise them after every training session. If he (Craig) is playing he’ll be our penalty taker.

“No doubt some people were squirming around when a defender went up to take the penalty on Friday.

“But when you’ve seen Craig Dawson take penalties for the best part of a year and a half, and you’ve got all the stats on the board, the penalty order speaks for itself.”