West Ham United Academy striker Josh Landers struck four times for Scotland U19s as they rounded off their Slovenia camp in style with a 7-1 win over the United Arab Emirates.
Landers, who scored twice to help West Ham United U21s claim their first Premier League 2 win of the season last time out against Sunderland, joined Neil MacFarlane’s side for three friendlies in Slovenia as they build towards UEFA U19 Euro qualifying in November.
After featuring off the bench in their rain-soaked opener against the hosts, the 18-year-old found the net in both of the games he started, opening the scoring in a 2-1 defeat to Kazakhstan before firing four past UAE in their final outing on Tuesday.
With the camp now complete, Landers will look to carry his goalscoring form back to east London when the U21s begin their 2025/26 Vertu Trophy campaign at MK Dons next Tuesday.
Also preparing for U19 Euro qualifiers, Airidas Golambeckis was just one of two outfield players to have played the full 90 minutes in England U19s’ final fixture of their September camp, a 4-1 victory over the Netherlands.
That result saw the Young Lions finish their week in Murcia, southern Spain, unbeaten, having previously defeated Ukraine 2-0 and drawn 3-3 with hosts Spain.
Will Antwi’s side made a flying start against the Netherlands as Everton’s Harrison Armstrong - currently on loan at Preston - scored inside the first minute. Chelsea forward Shim Mheuka then struck twice in quick succession, first from open play before converting a penalty for his fifth goal in three games, to put England firmly in control by half-time.
The Dutch reduced the deficit on 61 minutes, but substitute Sol Sidibe of PSV Eindhoven restored England’s three-goal cushion with just over 20 minutes remaining.
With camp duties now concluded, Golambeckis will hope to be involved again when England U19s regroup in October ahead of November’s first qualifying round of the UEFA U19 European Championship.
Finally, goalkeeper Lanre Awesu's England U18s also signed off their international camp with a win, a 3-2 victory over Canada.
Awesu, who had featured in the Young Lions' 4-1 win over Morocco at the weekend, which secured their overall victory in the Costa de la Luz tournament with a game to spare, featured on the bench for Neil Ryan's side as goals from Tottenham Hotspur's Luca Williams-Barnett and Jun'ai Byfield and Chelsea's Chizaram Ezenwata sealed the result.
