By Dan Harrison

Marc Albrighton enjoyed a bright 19-minute cameo as he made his England under-21s debut in the 2-0 win over Uzbekistan.

The Villa winger was handed his first taste of under-21 international action when Stuart Pearce introduced him as a 71st minute substitute in place of Tottenham's Danny Rose.

At the time, England were leading the clash at Bristol City's Ashton Gate thanks to Rose's strike on 64 minutes.

But Albrighton made a lively appearance from the bench and played his part as England wrapped up the victory.

Fellow debutant Martin Kelly, of Liverpool, sealed the win when he headed home Kyle Walker's cross with 13 minutes left.

It was a largely one-sided affair as the Young Lions geared up for their final two Euro 2011 qualifying matches.

Henri Lansbury, Rose, Danny Welbeck and Michael Mancienne all had good chances to extend the advantage in the closing stages but England had to settle for a 2-0 scoreline.

Albrighton impressed with several rampaging runs down the right hand side, which will have offered plenty of encouragement to his national and club coaches.

England are set to take on Portugal and Lithuania next month in their remaining Group Nine qualifiers.

Head coach Pearce said: "Would Fabio Capello be happy with that? I can only speak about what I saw and we played as well as we have done for the last year to a man.

"There was some great interchange play and the only thing we were lacking was not putting the ball in the net a few more times.

"There is no such thing as a meaningless friendly and we have sent 17 players back to their clubs with the feel-good factor and that will benefit me, the nation and the clubs."