Kenny pleased with progress
Thursday, 09 August, 2012
U17s Coach happy with Nordic Tournament performances so far.
By Nicholas Veevers
England U17s Coach Kenny Swain saw his side clinch a place in the final of this year's Nordic Tournament with a hard-fought draw against Norway on Thursday afternoon and is now looking forward to the fourth and final game of the competition on Saturday.
The Young Lions couldn't quite find a goal to make it three wins from three in their group stage, but in what Swain knew would be the hardest game so far, he was pleased with his team's display which was enough for them to top the group above Norway, Finland and host nation Faroe Islands.
"It was always going to be our toughest game and when you rotate the team around and have a look at a few different things, you can't always expect to win," he revealed.
"It was our toughest test and barring a spell in the first half for 15 minutes or so, we controlled most of the game and stayed strong when we needed to.
"We came out in the second half and after the subs and the changes had been made, we created enough opportunities to have won the game comfortably."
It was the third game in four days for the squad and Swain has used his 18-man group accordingly to try and give every player a similar amount of time on the pitch in what is undoubtedly a physical test for them,
"We're consistently making plenty of changes in order to see everybody and make sure they all have some game-time," he added. "But the performances have been quite solid and today was another one really.
"All of the lads here have progressed this week and we've put oursleves into a position where we have a Final now.
"They've coped very well indeed. The medical team work tirelessly in the background and all of the players are in a good state physically and mentally.
"We're just looking forward now to playing the final game."