England top Nordic group
Thursday, 09 August, 2012
Kenny Swain's U17s draw with Norway to reach Final of Nordic Tournament.
England U17s will contest the Final of the Nordic Tournament this year, after topping their group with a 0-0 draw against Norway on Thursday afternoon.
Despite being held by a physically strong Norwegian side, England's victories in their first two games against Faroe Islands and Finland were enough to see them qualify for Saturday's Final where they will face the winners of the other group, which consisted of Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and Faroe Islands U19s and will be decided later on Thursday evening.
It was clear from the first whistle here that the Young Lions were in for a tough test though, with Norway proving to be a strong and tough side to break down and there were few clear openings over the course of the 80 minutes.
In fact, the nearest England came to opening the scoring was in the early stages when a Bradley Fewster cross was collected by Bamidele Alli, only for his shot to come crashing back off the woodwork.
England always carried more of the attacking threat in the game and Norwegian 'keeper Sondre Rossbach was much busier than his opposite number Freddie Woodman.
However, they just couldn't find the breakthrough but with results elsewhere in the group securing England's top-spot, a draw proved ample for Swain's side to give themselves a chance of winning the 2012 Nordic title.