International Women's U17s Friendly
3pm (Local Time) Tuesday 24 October 2006
Vanløse Stadion, Copenhagen, Denmark

England Women's U17s came from a goal down to beat Denmark 3-1 in the first of two friendlies this week for Lois Fidler's squad.

After going a goal down on 7 minutes, goals from Toni Duggan (41mins), Victoria Williams (64mins) and Katie Owen (79mins) sealed a victory that gave much for Lois to be pleased about.

She told TheFA.com: "Every player gave their all and I was hugely impressed by our girls who were still going strong at the end, whilst the Danes were fading."

The squad met on Sunday evening with some players not getting to the team hotel till shortly before midnight, and after arriving in Copenhagen, the young Lions, featuring eight debutantes in the starting eleven, unsurprisingly started nervously.

"Before the game we spoke about exposing players to scenario's that 'aren't perfect' and with a lot of players moving up from U15 level, we also wanted some of the more experienced players to 'take charge'

"At the beginning we were making errors and seemed overawed but with little intervention from the bench, the girls solved the problems, and their passion, work ethic and self-belief were hugely refreshing."

England's equaliser came a minute into the second half. After good work by Georgina Giddings, Isabel Christiansen squared unselfishly for Duggan to finish with almost her first touch.

Victoria Williams added a second, heading home a corner at the back post, with Kate Owen netting a late third. The two sides meet again on Thursday, with praise from their coaches still likely to be ringing in their ears.

England: Rebecca Spencer, Amy Cleaver-Kane (Gilly Flaherty), Georgina Giddings, Remi Allen (c), Gemma Bonner, Victoria Williams, Courtney Sweetman-Kirk, Jessica Holbrook (Faye McCoy), Cara Newton (Toni Duggan), Isabel Christiansen, Demi Stokes (Katie Owen)