England started their European Championship qualifiers strongly by beating Greece 4-0.

UEFA European Women's U17 Championship Qualifier
11am, Friday 19 September
Kuusalu Stadium, Estonia
Click here for the tournament schedule

England made a fine start to their European Championship qualifiers as they overcame Greece by four goals in their opening match in Estonia.

Captain Naomi Cole grabbed the opening goal after just seven minutes with a long range effort that settled the nerves, before Lauren Bruton gave the Three Lions a two-goal cushion going into the break. A Danielle Carter free-kick and a close-range finish from Paige Eli gave the scoreline a comfortable gloss in the second half.

Head Coach Tracey Kevins admitted she was pleased by the performance and result, especially given the fact that so many players were making their competitive debuts for England.

Kevins said: "There were eight players making their competitive debuts today, so with all the anticipation and nerves that go into making your debut I am pleased that they handled the game so well.

"The main focus is on giving the players as much tournament experience as we can, and for a number of players who had only previously played friendly matches at U15 level this will be a big help to them.

"We focused on our performance in preparing for this game, and we will do that again as we look to the next match with Estonia. It's important that we keep our focus and if we can maintain the team play from today's match we will do well."

Kevins also explained how important it will be to rest and recover between the three matches in Estonia.

"Many of the players have not played three games in such a short space of time before," Kevins said. "So the rest and recover strategy between each game is vital.

"That's another part of the experience for these players and it will certainly serve them well in the future, hopefully we can get them ready for the second game and reaching their peak level for the final game of the group."

Elsewhere, Norway made an impressive start with a 7-0 win over hosts Estonia putting them top of the group on goal difference.

England meet Estonia on Sunday, before facing Norway in the final game on Wednesday. Only the winners of the ten first qualifying round groups are assured of progress to the draw on 19 November, along with the six runners-up with the best record against the teams first and third in their sections.

England
1 Julianna Draycott, 2 Kirsty Linnett, 3 Alex Greenwood, 4 Katherine Nutman, 5 Naomi Cole (c), 6 Laura Thacker, 7 Lara Fay (16 Bethanie Gardener 51), 8 Ashleigh Goddard (15 Phoebe Richards 51), 9 Paige Eli, (12 Kasia Lipka 75), 10 Danielle Carter, 11 Lauren Bruton,

Substitutes Not Used
13 Mary Earps, 14 Deanna Cooper, 17 Melissa Fletcher, 18 Francesca Ali