England Under-21 coach Peter Taylor has put his faith in new boys Richard Cresswell and Carl Cort to fire their side to European Championship success.

STARTING ROLE: Richard Cresswell

The two 21-year-olds both win their first start for the national side in tonight's qualifier against Sweden at Huddersfield, in the absence of more established stars like Emile Heskey, Alan Smith, Matt Jansen and James Beattie.

But Taylor is confident that former York City favourite Cresswell, now of Sheffield Wednesday following his transfer deadline day signing, and Wimbledon striker Cort and are more than capable of doing the job.

Cresswell is yet to score in his two appearances as a substitute for the Under-21s, but Cort was on target twice after coming on in the 5-0 demolition of Luxembourg, and the coach believes there is more to come.

"It happens a lot at this level where all of a sudden, people have got to get used to each other very quickly," Taylor said. "We have tried to partner Richard with Carl in most of the training sessions this week for them to get used to each other.

"They've both scored goals for their clubs, so I'm hoping they do the same on Friday.

"Richard has got good movement. He's a good all-round player, and I love him with his quick feet on the edge of the box. I saw him a lot at York before he went to Sheffield Wednesday.

"Carl Cort is an outstanding finisher. He came on as sub against Luxembourg for us and scored two outstanding goals. He keeps hitting the target, and if strikers hit the target, they've always got a chance, and Carl does.

"But it's all right me saying that - it's up to them to do it on Friday."

Whether or not the new pairing does prosper at the Alfred McAlpine Stadium could depend largely on the service they receive, and the last open training session at Leeds yesterday included plenty of crosses from wing-backs Keiron Dyer and Seth Johnson.

"The game is all about end product," said Taylor. "There's no point in a winger beating 10 people and then crossing it over the bar.

"You need the end product, and we've had a lot of it this year."

The inclusion of 20-year-old Watford central defender Paul Robinson for his debut comes only days after his club booked their place in the Premiership, with a play-off victory over Bolton at Wembley.

"Paul's done well and he's a very reliable lad as well," said Taylor.

"I've got no worries, he won't have too many nerves. He'll get on with it as soon as the whistle goes.

"He's had a terrific end to the season and he should be feeling quite pleased with his life."

Taylor's side has a solid look about it, and the coach is confident that his players will compete both technically and physically with the Swedes.

"Sweden are always very, very strong," he said. "When we played them at their place, we were solid and it was a great performance.

"It was the first game of the campaign for us and we had to be solid because they did knock a lot of balls in and they were quite tough themselves, so we've got to match them on that."

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