Denmark 0-3 England

The Algarve Tournament
Saturday 2 February 2008
Estadio da Nora, Portugal

England U17s picked up a comprehensive win against Denmark on Saturday, following an impressive performance in Portugal.

Goals from Ryan Donaldson, Matthew Briggs and Dean Parrett were enough to seal the win for John Peacock’s team, who largely controlled the game from start to finish.

The deadlock was broken after 27 minutes when a through ball from Sanchez Watts found Donaldson and he confidently fired home with the outside of his right foot to find the bottom left hand corner.

The Young Lions had to wait until the early stages of the second half before adding another and again the provider was Watts, as his corner was headed firmly home by Briggs from six yards out.

England sealed their victory with 20 minutes remaining when substitute Parrett robbed the ball off Danish skipper Mathias Larsen before advancing into the box and sliding home a nice finish past the goalkeeper.

Denmark had their moments in the game too and could consider themselves unfortunate not to have at least scored a goal, with striker Daniel Lindsten finding himself denied by both the crossbar and post.

Peacock was certainly happy with his team and, speaking after the game, he revealed: “I’m very pleased with the boys.

“We had four new caps playing and they all did well, so it’s a decent start to the tournament.

“We went about the job in the right way and obviously we now need to start getting ourselves recovered and prepared for the next game tomorrow."

England now meet France on Sunday, a side who they will also face in next month's Elite Round Qualifying in Tel Aviv. The two countries have a long footballing rivalry, one which Peacock is looking forward to renewing.

"England v France are always competitive games," said Peacock. "It will be a real test for our players but I don't think it will have much bearing on next month.

"The games come think and fast in this tournament. I will be rotating the squad and everyone will get a start."

England: Severn, Smith, Briggs (Rodwell 48), James (Parrett 55), Bartley, Watt (Townsend 48), Mutch, Donaldson (Bostock 55), Eckersley, Noble, Nouble.

Goals: Donaldson 27, Briggs 48, Parrett 70