Late equaliser forces England Under-17s to settle for draw

A first-half brace from Sheffield Wednesday striker George Hirst had put the Young Lions on course for their first win of 2016 and Ipswich Town keeper Nick Hayes kept England’s lead in tact with a penalty save in the second half.

And England had opportunities to add to their tally, before a late fightback from Germany saw them score in stoppage time and ensure it ended all square in the second game of the Algarve Tournament, following Friday’s 1-1 draw with host nation Portugal.

Steve Cooper’s side made a fantastic start too, with defender Ed Francis picking out Hirst on his full debut with a ball behind the defence in the 17th minute. 

Hirst did the rest by beating two defenders and then finishing well past German keeper Lennart Grill.

Less than ten minutes later, Hirst scored his second of the game to put the Young Lions firmly in charge at half time.

But Germany fought well to work their way back into the game and Hayes prevented them from pulling a goal back by saving a spot-kick midway through the second half.

And he was helpless to stop Florian Baak reduce the arrears for Germany, which gave them hope as the game went into its later stages.

They were rewarded for their persistence too, as England’s resilience was broken in the final minute of stoppage time when substitute Renat Dadashov made it 2-2.

England will play their final game of the tournament on Tuesday afternoon when the Netherlands will be in opposition.

England Under-17s: 12 Nicholas Hayes (Ipswich Town); 12 Josh Tymon (Hull City), 5 Edward Francis (Manchester City), 6 Tolaja Bola (Arsenal), 14 Simranjit Thandi (Leicester City); 4 Andre Dozzell (Ipswich Town),15 Elliot Embleton (Sunderland); 19 Joshua Bohui (Brentford), 16 Mackenzie Heaney (Newcastle United) 9 George Hirst (Sheffield Wednesday), 17 George Tanner (Manchester United)

Substitutes: 8 Dennis Adeniran (Fulham) for Dozzell 41, 3 Jaden Brown (Tottenham Hotspur) for Bola 41, 11 Samuel Shashoua (Tottenham Hotspur) for Bohui 44, 7 Jonathan Leko (West Bromwich Albion) for Thandi, 18 Rahis Nabi (West Bromwich Albion) for Tanner 60, 10 Ben Morris (Ipswich Town) for Leko 71

Substitutes not used: 2 Japhet Tanganga (Tottenham Hotspur), 22 Adam Parkes (Southampton)

Head coach: Steve Cooper

Goals: George Hirst 17, 24

Germany: 12 Lennart Grill (Mainz); 2 Alfons Amade (Hoffenheim), 5 Florian Baak (Hertha Berlin), 6 Jannis Kubler (Karlsruher), 13 Jan-Niklas Beste (Borussia Dortmund), 15 Sven Sonnenberg (FC Koln); 16 Jano Baxmann (Werder Bremen), 18 Sam Francis Schreck (St. Pauli), 19 Timothy Tillman (Bayern Munich), 20 Davide Jerome Itter (Wolfsburg); 11 Manuel Wintzheimer (Bayern Munich).

Substitutes: 1 Jan Christope Bartels (Mainz), 3 Gianluca Itter (Wolfsburg), 4 Tom Baack (VFL Bochum), 7 Arne Maier (Hetha Berlin), 8 Atakan Akkayinak (Beyer Leverkusen), 9 Renat Dadashov (Leipzig), 10 Kai Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen),  14 Mika Timothy Hanraths (Fortuna Dusseldorf), 17 Yari Otto (Wolfsberg)

Head coach: Meikel Schonweitz

Goals: Florian Baak, Renat Dadashov