England 5 Austria 1: Nketiah hat-trick and stunning Hudson-Odoi double ease Under-21s to victory

AIDY BOOTHROYD watched Callum Hudson-Odoi rip Austria apart and then declared: I hope that’s not the last I see of him!

Chelsea whizkid Hudson-Odoi netted twice while Eddie Nketiah grabbed a hat-trick in a blistering Young Lions display.

CHO had only dropped down from the England seniors as he continues his recovery from a serious Achilles injury.

And after proving his fitness in a mesmeric display, Gareth Southgate is likely to recall the 18-year-old to the big-boys next time round.

Yet Boothroyd said: “I hope not (that’s not the last I see of him) because he’s been brilliant for us. “Sometimes if a player was in the seniors and came back down, there would be the opportunity for them to be moody.

“But he has been first class throughout on and off the pitch.

“It was a terrific performance and we were after that. The result was great because we needed it. If we had not got anything other than a win it would have been a big gap to close.”

Hudson-Odoi and Phil Foden were on another level with the movement and vision.

And in Nketiah, they had an arch-predator in front of them who took his season’s international tally to six goals in four games.

His performance made it all the more baffling that the striker is still yet to start a Championship game during his loan spell at Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds.

Though he did blow the chance to hit a fourth when he saw a late penalty saved.

The one-sided scoreline may not have suggested it, but this was a crunch clash for Boothroyd’s side given only top spot in the group is guaranteed progression to the Euros finals in summer 2021.

Austria occupied that place before the game having won all three of their fixtures, with England second with two wins in two – though now they are in first via goal difference.

Boothroyd stuck with the experimental 3-5-1-1 he used in Maribor on Friday when his team chucked a two-goal lead in the final ten minutes to draw 2-2 with Slovenia.

And in fairness it was thanks to the formation that the opener came about.

Max Aarons, playing right wing-back, took down an inch-perfect long-ball from Lloyd Kelly and found a central-lurking Hudson-Odoi — deployed at No10 — who rifled first-time into the roof of the net.

One became two just before the half hour as Kelly headed down Foden’s corner and there was Nketiah to steer home from six yards.

Ian Wright-idolising Nketiah had his second on 39 minutes as he glanced a lofted cross from Dwight McNeil cross into the far corner.

England’s night got even better just before the break as Hudson-Odoi raced at a retreating defence and lashed into the corner from outside the box.

The visitors did grab one back through Christoph Baumgartner’s 66th-minute header.

But Nketiah restored the four-goal gap by turning in Rhian Brewster’s cross – before fluffing his lines from the spot after the Liverpool man had been felled.

The gaffe did not spoil a thrilling night though for Boothroyd’s Young Lions which puts them firmly in control of the group.