All three of Aston Villa’s representatives at the UEFA Under-19 European Championship in France were on display in England’s opening day 3-2 win over Austria. Both the Nathans; Delfouneso and Baker, started for England while Andreas Weimann started up front for Austria.

All three will be reasonably happy with their performances. Nathan Baker was solid, tidy and well disciplined at the back for England. Perhaps caught out positionally a little early on, as Austria fired the opening salvos of the game, he recovered well and played out the full 90 minutes with an assured, confident style.

Andreas Weimann used his pace and tenacity to make a nuisance of himself throughout the game. He’s a pretty unselfish player, setting up several good opportunities for his team in the final third and he looks like he has something of the poacher about him.

Nathan Delfouneso played much of the first half in wider positions, both left and right, and in a slightly withdrawn role supporting West Ham’s Frank Nouble, who fired England into a 2-0 lead with two very impressive strikes, although the Austrian keeper will want to have a look at the tape for the second.

The Fonz had two very good chances to add his name to score sheet in one-on-one situations with Philip Petermann, the Austrian goalkeeper, and may be disappointed that he didn’t manage to finish at least one of them. The first opportunity came in the first half with a clever run into space in the middle, but Petermann was off his line quickly and smothered Delfouneso’s attempted nutmeg well.

The second chance came late in the game with Nathan in full flight and a lot of space in the right channel. Petermann was again off his line quickly, but Delfouneso might be willing to admit that he telegraphed his jink to the right a little and the Austrian was again able to snuff out the chance.

Otherwise, it was a very solid display from the Fonz and I was particularly impressed with his general reading of the game in a supporting role. His touch, composure and ability to spot the pass combined with his positional sense reveals his maturity and I remain optimistic that this will be his breakthrough season.

When we talk about strikers playing deep and linking up play, in the fashion that Heskey will often be defended, this is what we really want. Not only can Delfouneso drop deep to collect the ball and run the channels, forcing defenders to leave space, he’s a genuine goal threat in the way Heskey rarely is these days. He’s also got a trick or two up his sleeve that Ashely Young would be proud of and pace to burn.

As a footnote; contrary to the belief that Villa can’t scout further afield than Glasgow, Weimann is one of three young Austrians at Villa at the moment and while goalkeeper Thomas Dau and defender Dominik Hofbauer do qualify for the under-19s, neither are part of the Austrian squad in France.

England will play Holland on Wednesday before the final group game against hosts France on Saturday.