England 1-0 Portugal
UEFA European U17 Championship
Elite Qualifying Round
2.30pm, Wednesday 25 March 2009
Varosi Stadium, Szombathely, Hungary

John Peacock's England U17 side got their Elite Qualifying Round campaign off to a good start with a 1-0 victory over Portugal in Hungary.

After a tight first-half in the Varosi Stadium, Luke Freeman converted a John Bostock cross in the 58th minute to give the Young Lions three valuable points.

The result was particularly pleasing as Portugal had beaten England on their two previous encounters - 2-1 in August’s Nationwide Tournament and 2-0 in the Algarve Tournament in February.

Next up for England is Serbia on Friday as they attempt to qualify for the UEFA European U17 Championship Finals which will take place in Germany in May.

The Teams

England
1 Jed Steer, 2 James Hurst, 3 Luke Garbutt, 4 Gary Gardner, 5 Louis Laing, 6 Tom Parkes, 7 Jonjo Shelvey, 8 Jose Baxter, 10 Luke Freeman, 14 John Bostock, 16 Lateef Elford-Alliyu

Goals
Freeman 58

Substitutes
13 Sam Johnstone, 9 Benik Afobe, 11 Thomas Ince, 12 Josh McEachran, 17 Jacob Walcott, 18 Sam Habergham

Portugal
12 Joao Figueiredo, 2 Joao Amorim Gomes, 3 Richardo Ferreira, 4 Miluel Serudic, 5 Andre Dias, 6 Sergio Oliveira, 7 Aliu Djalo, 8 Ruben Pinto, 9 Filipe Barros, 10 William Carvalmo, 15 Afonso Taira

Substitutes
1 Pedro Cavadas Ferreira, 11 Luis Gustavo Santos, 13 Luis Martins, 14 David Viana, 16 Fabio Nunes, 17 Tiago Romeira, 18 Tiago Ribeiro