ENGLAND under-21s coach Stuart Pearce insisted there was no option but to field goalkeeper Joe Lewis as a striker for the final 15 minutes of the 7-0 friendly victory over Azerbaijan.

With six of his European Championship squad rested or unavailable, Pearce only had four outfield substitutes and had already used them before Lee Cattermole picked up a slight calf problem.

Pearce did not want to disrespect his opponents by playing with 10 men at stadium:mk and his solution was to bring on Peterborough goalkeeper Lewis.

It was a similar story in 2005 when he told David James to play in attack against Middlesbrough – but on this occasion it was a “forced” move.

“We had to do that because Cat’s pulled a slight injury and with the tournament a week away we were at a loss as what to do,” Pearce said.

“We used all our outfield subs and Joe put himself forward to go up front. It was a forced sub. Whichever way we did it we didn’t want to be seen as disrespectful. That was the last thing I wanted.”

Michael Mancienne’s early strike, an own goal by goalkeeper Elchin Sadigov and a cool finish from Craig Gardner established a half-time lead at MK Dons’ ground.

Nodar Mammadov then diverted into his own net after the break and Kieran Gibbs added another two before Lewis came on.