England 0-1 Northern Ireland

Sky Sports Victory Shield
Chester City FC
Thursday 03 November 2005

England U16s suffered heartbreak in their second Victory Shield encounter as a desperately late goal handed Northern Ireland an unlikely victory in Chester.

Kenny Swain's side had created the better chances in the match, but their misfortune was compounded when Irish captain Corey Evans tapped home in stoppage time at the end of a wholly full-blooded contest.

England began the match full of confidence after their emphatic 4-0 victory over Wales last month, and their buoyant mood showed during the first-half, not helped by the blustery weather conditions inside the stadium.

Pacy winger Nathan Porritt had England's first, and best, opportunity of the half after 22 minutes. The Middlesbrough youngster did brilliantly to beat his man and cut inside from the left, only to see his effort superbly repelled by Northern Ireland goalkeeper Conor Cevlin.

Shortly afterwards, an energetic forward thrust from Michael Woods set up Daniel Broadbent. However, the Huddersfield striker, having turned onto his left-foot, saw his effort narrowly clear the cross-bar.

Woods, the Leeds United midfielder, was particularly impressive in the first-half and very nearly found the target with an instinctive first time effort following a long ball forward.

Whatever Northern Ireland had to offer was, almost in the game's entirety, only met by a resolute England defence marshalled so well by the outstanding Jordan Spence, captain of the side.

Both the excellent Porritt and West Ham's Tom Harvey had goal-bound efforts blocked within seconds of each other at the start of the second period before half-time substitute Ashley Chambers nearly broke deadlock, driving wide after an insurgent run down the right-hand side.

Chambers, together with Porritt, continued to tease and torment on either flanks as the game eased towards a goalless conclusion.

However a sprightly run from Northern Ireland's Gavin Graham following a defensive lapse saw him square the ball across the goal-mouth for Evans to nudge home and spark wild scenes of jubilation on the part of the visitors.

Coach Swain was naturally disappointed to see his side succumb to such a late goal, but put faith in his side to bounce back when they conclude this year's Victory Shield later this month.

He said: "The boys are down and out and flat. But they are resilient and they will have to bounce back from these kind of experiences; they will get these sort of disappointments in life.

"However, I never really felt there was any danger of losing the game but credit to Northern Ireland for the way they played.

"The weather conditions were disastrous for both sides but I think both sets of players tried really hard to control the ball in very difficult conditions and largely they did quite well considering they are only 15-year-old schoolboys."

Swain added: "There's plenty of character in that dressing room and they will bounce back from this, I'm sure of it."

England will have the chance to erase the memory of this defeat when they face Scotland in their final Victory Shield game in Kilmarnock on 25 November.

England 0-1 Northern Ireland, Victory Shield, 03 November 2005 

England: Neil Etheridge (Chelsea), Nana Ofori (Chelsea), James Reid (Notts Forest), Tony Brookes (West Ham), Jordan Spence (West Ham), Michael Woods (Leeds United), Lee Askham (Sheffield United) (Ashley Chambers (Leicester City), 46), Tom Harvey (West Ham United), Nathan Porritt (Middlesbrough), Joe Matlock (Leicester City), Daniel Broadbent (Huddersfield), Victor Moses (Crystal Palace, 67), Tom Taiwo (Leeds United) (Henri Lansbury, Arsenal, 46)
Subs not used: Jonathan Franks (Middlesbrough), Alex Smithies (Huddersfield).

Northern Ireland: Conor Cevlin; Nevin Spence (Andrew King 64), Ryan McGivern, Shane O'Neill, Kevin Mossey; Gavin Graham, William Faulkner (Chris Curran, 20 Brian McCaul 86) Kenny Keys, Paul Gallagher; Dean McCormick, Cory Evans (capt).
Subs not used: Jonathan Sergeant, Chris Ramsey, Patrick McLaughlin, Ryan O'Neill.

Goals: Corey Evans 80

Referee: Andy Woolmer

Attendance: 1,109