CRASHING NIGHT FOR PEARCE'S KIDS.

England Under-21s 0 France Under-21s 2

ON A night to forget for England coaches, the team bus crashed and Stuart Pearce lost on his emotional return to the City Ground.

Psycho should have known it was not going to go well when the coach reversed into a gate before the classy French put the brakes on his young lions.

Pearce said his third defeat in 25 games in charge should serve as a warning to his side going into this summer's Under-21 European Championship in Sweden.

"I thought we were outplayed by a very good French side and we have to learn the lessons from this," he said. "To say we gave away a couple of soft goals is an understatement.

"This beating will serve us well, especially in the summer." England couldn't cope with the movement of the French and Joe Hart and Adam Johnson were the only players to emerge with much credit. Hart was in good form, twice denying Liverpool striker David N'Gog and keeping out a stinging shot from Gabriel Obertan.

But he could not continue his heroics and the Manchester City stopper was beaten on 26 minutes when Andrew Taylor and Michael Mancienne failed to clear the ball and Obertan shot home from the edge of the area.

Pearce's night went from bad to worse on 35 minutes when David Wheater lost the ball just inside the French half and Moussa Sissoko raced through before deftly lifting the ball over the advancing Hart to make it 2-0.

CAPTION(S):

FUMING Boss Pearce