England 0-0 Armenia
UEFA European U17 Championship
Qualifying Round
7.30pm, Wednesday 22 October 2008
Campo los Cuartos, Tenerife, Spain
Click here for competition details
England U17s were held to a goal-less draw by Armenia in their opening game of the European Championship First Qualifying Round on Wednesday evening.
John Peacock's team found themselves largely frustrated by a strong and physical Armenian team who defended in numbers in a bid to shut the Lions out and they were successful.
Whilst enjoying the vast majority of the possession and pressure, England couldn't find a way through or create any clear chances and had to settle for just a point.
However, it could've been a different story with both Jonjo Shelvey and Jack Wilshere seeing shots hit the bar in the game.
If England were going to score, their better chances arrived earlier in the game when José Baxter saw a shot well saved by Armenian goalkeeper Tigran Davytan.
After 55 minutes, England came even closer when Wilshere's in-swinging free kick from the right evaded everybody only to clip the bar.
Nine minutes later, Shelvey was even more unfortunate when he saw his shot come crashing back off the woodwork as England tried to break the deadlock.
In the other match in England's group, hosts Spain got off to a flying start with a 6-0 victory against Estonia in the earlier game at Campo los Cuartes.
England Head Coach Peacock will now be hoping his team can follow suit and get three points when they face Estonia on Friday evening.
England: Jed Steer, Keanu Marsh-Brown, Ezekiel Fryers, Emmanuel Frimpong, Ryan Tunnicliffe, Jack Wilshere, Jose Baxter, John Bostock (c) (Jacob Walcott, 68) Luke Freeman (Billy Knott, 54) Jonjo Shelvey, Tom Parkes.
Substitutes not used: Edward Oshodi, James Hurst, Ryan Allsop, Jamie Reckord, Liam Head.
Armenia: Tigran Davytan, Rafayel Nersisyan, Varazdat Haroyan, Vachik Yeghiazaryan, Sedrak Shakbazyan, Gevorg Ohanyan (Gor Gugujyan, 55) Gevorg Ohanyan K (c) (Argishti Petrosyan, 60) Davit Sujyan, Kamo Hovhannisyan, Grisha Khachatryan, Valter Poghosyan (Artush Kerobyan, 75)
Substitutes not used: Hayk Hunanyan, Karo Loretsyan (GK), Erik Sargsyan, Armen Zakaryan.