BLACKBURN’S Jason Lowe has pulled out of the England under 21 squad with a hamstring injury.

Lowe, who came on for the final few minutes of Blackburn’s weekend draw with Birmingham, was due to link up with the rest of the squad at his home training facilities of Brockhall yesterday.

Stuart Pearce and his side are using Rovers’ training ground as a base ahead of their friendly with Northern Ireland at Blackpool’s Bloomfield Road ground tonight (7.45pm).

Lowe was joined on the injured list by Newcastle striker Sammy Ameobi, with Pearce calling up Sheffield United defender Harry Maguire and Leicester forward Martyn Waghorn as replacements.

Pearce has also seen Wilfried Zaha drafted into the senior squad following the withdrawals of Wayne Rooney, Theo Walcott, Jonjo Shelvey, Kyle Walker and Aaron Lennon from the squad who travel to Sweden for a friendly tomorrow.

England boss Roy Hodgson looked to call up Jermain Defoe but the Spurs man is also injured while Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is not match fit.

Along with Zaha, Hodgson also called up Arsenal defender Carl Jenkinson and Spurs midfielder Tom Huddlestone.

The under-21 game will be England’s first against Northern Ireland at that level and begins their preparation for next summer’s European Championship in Israel.

The Young Lions reached the finals after winning their qualifying group before beating Serbia over a two-legged play-off last month.