Aidy Boothroyd has praised Leicester City winger Demarai Gray for producing a "terrific" captain's display in England Under-21s' 2-1 victory over Romania Under-21s.
The 21-year-old opened the scoring for his side early on at Molineux in a match labelled the 'Cyrille Regis International', two months on from the former forward's death.
Gray skippered the Young Lions for the first time, and manager Boothroyd was delighted with the mature showing produced by the Birmingham-born attacker.
"Dominic Solanke was supposed to be the captain but he took a knock yesterday; I wanted to make sure he was 100% for Ukraine," he told reporters after the match. "In a tribute to Cyrille Regis I thought it would only be right for a local boy to take the armband.
"And it was a captain's performance until I took him off to save him for Ukraine on Tuesday. He deserved his goal - he was absolutely terrific. He also has leadership qualities.
"When Tammy [Abraham], Dominic and Lewis Cook moved up he was a little disappointed, he wanted to get to the seniors. I spoke to him and told him to keep working hard and get into his club side on a regular basis. The players respect him."
Jake Clarke-Salter also netted for England to give them a two-goal cushion, before Valentin Costache pulled one back 11 minutes from time.
Daniel Lewis
