5,119 fans were in attendance at Lincoln City on Friday night to watch England U16s triumph in the Victory Shield.
It was the biggest attendance at Sincil Bank this season and England's 2-0 win would have certainly warmed the crowd on a bitterly cold November evening, with goals from Benik Afobe and Connor Wickham proving the difference for Kenny Swain's young side.
England began their Victory Shield campaign with a 6-0 win over Northern Ireland in October. This was followed up with a 1-0 defeat of Wales in Llanelli and Friday's result ensured they clinched the title without conceding a single goal, a point not lost on Assistant Coach Noel Blake:
"If you don't concede goals, you don't lose games," he said. "That should be the foundation of any team. Throughout the three matches, we never really looked like conceding and that's down to all the players, not just the defenders and goalkeepers.
"Winning the Shield is pleasing, but the development of these players is the most important thing," he continued.
"The lads were presented with three very different games and dealt with each one brilliantly.
"Against Northern Ireland we scored six goals and passed the ball really well, but the Wales game was a different challenge in many respects. It was a tough game that asked questions of us and the Scotland match was also difficult, because the Scotland team worked really hard. However, we managed to score twice and we held on quite comfortably in the end."
The terrific crowd at Sincil Bank follows on from the near-10,000 who recently turned up at Colchester United's new ground to see Brian Eastick's U19 side beat Germany 1-0 in a friendly.
The 9,692-strong crowd there was also the largest the Weston Homes Community Stadium has seen so far, and proves that there is a strong appetite for England teams at every level.
Teams
England
1 Samuel Johnstone, 2 David Atkinson (12 Andre Wisdom, 41), 3 Luke Garbutt (C), 4 George Thorne (16 Matthias Fanimo, 76), 5 Louis Laing, 6 Tom Thorpe, 7 Bruno Pilatos, 8 Ross Barkley (15 Jordan Cousins, 71), 9 Benik Afobe, 10 Connor Wickham (17 Saido Berahino, 64), 11 Aziz Deen-Conteh (14 Zele Ismail, 41)
Substitutes not used
13 Jak Alnwick (GK), 18 Jack Robinson
Scotland
1 Robert Thomson, 2 Adam Hunter (14 Kyle McAusland 37), 3 Michael Noble, 4 John Young, 5 Christopher Ketterer, 6 Fraser Fyvie (C), 7 Conor Ramsey (15 Jamie Walker, 41) 8 Dylan McGeogh (18 Nicholas Main, 56), 9 Liam Gormley (16 David Smith, 71), 10 Graeme McGreggor, 11 Callum McGreggor
Substitutes not used
12 Shaun Thomson (GK), 17 Euan Lindsay
Referee
David Webb
Assistant Referees
Simon Barrow and Robert Madley
Attendance
5,119