Carson seeking more milestones

Scott Carson says the "pressure is on the Netherlands" after marking his record-breaking 28th Under-21 cap with a clean sheet as England beat Serbia to finish second in Group B and book a semi-finals place.

Long tenure
The 21-year-old has been a fixture between the England posts ever since he made his debut in February 2004, and surpassed a mark shared by Jamie Carragher and Gareth Barry when he turned out at the De Goffert Stadium as Stuart Pearce's team secured a crucial win. Leroy Lita set them on course with a goal inside six minutes and Carson admitted it eased nerves. "It was important to get that early goal," the Liverpool FC goalkeeper told uefa.com. "You don't want to be going into the last ten minutes knowing that you need a goal to go through."

Key contribution
The breakthrough perhaps relaxed England a little too much, however, allowing Serbia to push forward and the Cumbrian custodian gradually saw more and more of the play. He dealt soundly with Nikola Petković's free-kick just before the half-hour, and then kept out a low, swerving effort from Predrag Pavlović, yet it was a save just after half-time that proved decisive. Capitalising on a slip from James Milner, Djordje Ivelja stole into the England penalty area unopposed and an equaliser looked a near certainty but his effort failed to find a way past the sizeable frame of Carson, who saved well.

Great expectations
Gojko Kačar hit the post from the angle late on when the England No1 appeared to have it covered anyway, though by then his side were already two goals to the good - thanks to Matt Derbyshire's 77th-minute strike - and on course for the UEFA European Under-21 Championship semi-finals. "Credit to everyone, we dug in and got a result," he continued. "I think everyone in our camp knew that we hadn't played to our expectations. We still didn't play as well as we can play [against Serbia], but the important thing is that we got the result and a clean sheet."

First game
Next up are the hosts in Heerenveen on Wednesday, and Carson has fond memories of facing the Netherlands. "My first game was against Holland, funnily enough. It was a few years ago now and at the time I was happy enough to get one cap. To get this far - I'm delighted," he reflected. He conceded twice on his debut as a team also including Justin Hoyte, Steven Taylor, Nigel Reo-Coker and Peter Whittingham earned a 3-2 friendly victory – and Carson is expecting more joy at the Abe Lenstra Stadium: "The pressure is on the Netherlands in front of the home crowd and we've got a decent record against them - hopefully it will carry on."