It has been a frustrating year for Micah Richards, but the Manchester City defender presented a compelling case for a return to Fabio Capello’s senior England squad at the KC Stadium in Hull last night.

Richards missed the final few months of last season with a knee injury and had surgery this summer, but few would bet against the 20-year-old adding to his 11 full caps on the basis of this performance for Stuart Pearce’s England Under-21 side.

Etien Velikonja collected Uros Korun’s pass to score for the visiting team after 12 minutes, but Richards restored parity midway through the first half. Matjaz Rozman, the Slovenia Under21 goalkeeper, was caught in no man’s land trying to clear Tom Huddlestone’s free kick, allowing Richards to stroke the ball home before James Milner scored the winner with a fiercely struck shot.

“Micah is always a threat in the box, but the thing that impressed me most was his attitude,” Pearce said. “Sometimes there is speculation that players who drop down from the seniors won’t be motivated, but that’s not the case with him.”

The match was a useful warm-up for England’s final European Under-21 Championship qualifying match against Portugal at Wembley next month, although it ended on a sour note when Nejc Pecnik was sent off after collecting a second booking.