Three out of three aint bad

Mark Noble gave an assured performance as England's under 21s breezed past the Republic of Ireland at St. Mary's tonight.

The 20-year-old midfielder helped the young Lions to a 3-0 win over the Irish, with all goals coming in the second half.

James Milner opened the scoring with a deflected effort on the hour mark before doubling his tally eight minutes later with a crisp 20 yard drive.

Arsenal's Theo Walcott completed the rout 12 minutes from time after a good run on the left culminated with a fine effort from the edge of the box.

Noble - who looked solid throughout - played 86 minutes of the game before being replaced by Southampton's Andrew Surman.

Meanwhile James Tomkins and Fred Sears helped the England under 19s to a 2-0 win over Croatia at Swindon's County Ground earlier this evening.

Tomkins played a full 90 minutes whilst Sears came on as a 74th minute substitute for Manchester United's Febian Brandy. A third Hammer, Junior Stanislas was an unused substitute.

Both goals came from Chelsea's Scott Sinclair, one each side of the half time whistle. Sinclair's first came from the penalty spot on 22 minutes, whilst James Tomkins had a hand in his second 16 minutes from time.

Sears almost grabbed a third late on after rounding the Croatian 'keeper but found the angle too tight.

Finally Jack Collison was part of the Wales under 21 side that enjoyed an emphatic 4-0 win in Malta this afternoon.

Briyan Flynn's young charges scores all four goals in the second half; the win lifts the Welsh to the top of European Championship qualifying Group 10 with just three games left to play.