U17s Head Coach John Peacock is delighted with England's start.

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

A Luke Freeman goal gave England U17s the perfect start to their Elite Qualifying Round campaign and Head Coach John Peacock says he couldn't be happier.

Freeman's neat finish just before the hour mark was enough to defeat a Portugal side who have beaten The Young Lions on two previous occasions already this season, and Peacock says his side carried out his instructions to the letter.

“I'm delighted with the way we played today," he said. "Everyone did what was expected of them; we had a game plan and they carried it out from start to finish.

“The chances during the game were few and far between but they did fall our way. I think we deserved to go in at the break in the lead, so the important thing was to make sure we kept going in the same vein in the second half.

“I always felt that one goal would be enough to win the game and I'm pleased it came our way. It was a great finish by Luke Freeman, who I thought received the ball well throughout the whole game."

England's next group match is against Serbia on Friday, and Peacock is expecting another tough encounter.

“We totally deserved the result today, but it will mean nothing if we can’t go out and produce a similar type of performance on Friday.

"That will be another very difficult game, but these three points certainly puts us in a good position.”

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