Henri Lansbury played a captain's part as he helped England to come from behind and beat Israel 4-1 in an Under-21 friendly on Monday night.
The Hammers midfielder entered at half-time wearing the skipper's armband with the Young Lions one-nil down on a chilly night at Barnsley's Oakwell ground. Lansbury was a lively presence immediately for Stuart Pearce's men and by the hour mark, the match had turned firmly in the home side's favour.
Martyn Waghorn equalised with a close-range header on 58 minutes before Marvin Sordell added a spectacular second two minutes later. The victory against the 2013 UEFA U21 EURO hosts was seemingly complete when Nathan Delfouneso added a third from the penalty spot as the contest entered its closing stages.
Lansbury then smashed in the fourth in the second minute of added time. He showed great energy to burst into the box and meet an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain cross on the run. He took a touch to bring it under control and then fired a fierce drive into the net.
It capped a great international break for Lansbury after his man of the match display last Friday when he scored two and made two in England's 6-0 defeat of Azerbaijan. That took Pearce's men to the top of the fledgling Group 8 table ahead of the 6 October trip to Iceland.