Carroll puts a gloss on win; Pearce's side edge to victory.

England Under-21s 6 Macedonia Under-21s 3 NEWCASTLE'S Andy Carroll scored a double as England Under-21s secured a crucial victory over Macedonia in a breathless encounter which saw Theo Walcott substituted at half-time with a dead leg.

The Arsenal forward, whose participation for the Under-21s has been a bone of contention for Arsene Wenger in the past, was making only his second appearance since returning from a lower-back injury.

And his latest injury, albeit a minor one, may cause a small amount of further unrest at the Emirates, although Walcott's potential inclusion for the senior squad's clash against Belarus next Wednesday is now very much in doubt.

A 20,074 crowd at the Ricoh Arena were treated to a thrilling European Championship qualifier as England were made to work hard for their three Group Nine points.

Kieran Gibbs and Micah Richards put England in control before Muarem Muarem made it 2-1 at the interval.

But a blistering start to the second half saw Macedonia make it 3-3 in the space of six minutes through Agim Ibraimi and a Gibbs own goal, with Andy Carroll netting for England.

But, despite a fair share of nerves, Stuart Pearce's charges triumphed courtesy of another from Carroll and a brace from substitute Zavon Hines - on his debut.

England's European Championship final defeat in Sweden over the summer marked the end of a two-year cycle for head coach Pearce, with just four players starting at the Ricoh from the side that lost 4-0 to Germany. Both sides made a solid start to the encounter, but England started to grab a foothold on the game somewhat as the first quarter wore on but Macedonia were more than willing to commit men forward themselves.

Pearce must surely have been hugely alarmed at the kamikaze second-half performance from his side.

Nevertheless, his charges regained their lead in the 67th minute courtesy of Hines when the 20-year-old latched on to Cleverley's through-ball.

ENGLAND UNDER-21s: Loach, Richards, Mancienne, Tomkins, Gibbs, Wilshere, Cleverley, Rodwell, Rose (Muamba 69), Walcott (Hines 46), Carroll (Welbeck 90). Subs (not used): Fielding, Smalling, Stanislas, Sturridge.

Booked: Wilshere. Goals: Gibbs 22, Richards 30, Carroll 54, Hines 67, Carroll 87, Hines 90.

FYR MACEDONIA UNDER-21s: Naumoski, Georgievski, Bogdanovic, Dimitrovski, Lazevski (Nestoroski 72), Aliu, Stojkov, Muarem, Siljanovski (Kostencovski 64), Ivanovski (Aleksandar Stankov 90), Ibraimi. Subs (not used): Jovanovski, Urdinov, Spirovski, Berisa.

Booked: Aliu. Goals: Muarem 42, Ibraimi 53, Gibbs 58 og. Attendance: 20,074 Referee: Fredy Fautrel (France).

CAPTION(S):

GOAL JOY England''s Kieran Gibbs, right, celebrates with Theo Walcott.