England 4-0 Greece
Cole 7, Bruton 28, Carter 47, Eli 69
UEFA European Women's U17 Championship Qualifier
11am, Friday 19 September
Kuusalu Stadium, Estonia

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

Kelvins 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."

Kelvins 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," Kelvins 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.