Report: Portugal 2-3 England WU23

England women’s under-23s scored twice in the dying moments to come from behind and beat Portugal 3-2.

This was the first of two matches the WU23s are playing in this international window, with a trip north coming on Monday to face Belgium in Genk (3pm BST).

The Young Lionesses had a disappointing start to the contest at the Estádio Municipal da Marinha Grand, as they conceded inside four minutes after failing to deal with a low cross from the right and Jassie Vasconcelos bundled the ball home.

Poppy Pattinson’s set-pieces were testing Portugal’s goalkeeper but it was a tight first half with not many chances for either team.

England equalised early into the second period though as Aggie Beever-Jones whipped in a cross from the left-hand side and Angela Addison scored with a left-foot finish.

But the Portuguese regained their advantage seven minutes later when a short corner and cross saw Vasconcelos loop a header over Kayla Rendell in the England goal.

It looked as though the Young Lionesses were heading for defeat but then with five minutes remaining, a neat one-two between Beever-Jones and Laura Blindkilde Brown led to a low shot by the latter, which the keeper could only parry into the net.

Then in injury-time, Brown did well on the breakaway and Missy Goodwin ended up being brought down in the penalty area, leaving substitute Missy Bo Kearns to send the goalkeeper the wrong way from the spot.

England: 1 Kayla Rendell (Southampton), 2 Jorja Fox (Brighton and Hove Albion, on loan from Chelsea), 3 Poppy Pattinson (Brighton and Hove Albion), 4 Ruby Mace (Leicester City, on loan from Manchester City), 5 Anna Patten (Aston Villa, on loan from Arsenal) ©, 6 Kiera Skeels (Charlton Athletic), 7 Angela Addison (Charlton Athletic), 8 Laura Blindkilde Brown (Aston Villa), 9 Aggie Beever-Jones (Everton, on loan from Chelsea), 10 Ruby Grant (BK Häcken), 11 Freya Gregory (Aston Villa) 

Substitutes: 14 Missy Bo Kearns (Liverpool) for Grant 68, 19 Missy Goodwin (Leicester City) for Gregory 68, 23 Grace Clinton (Bristol City, on loan from Manchester United) for Addison 85

Substitutes not used: 12 Asmita Ale (Tottenham Hotspur), 13 Lucy Thomas (Birmingham City), 15 Anouk Denton (West Ham United), 16 Charlotte Wardlaw (Lewes, on loan from Chelsea), 17 Georgia Eaton-Collins (Leicester City), 18 Mel Filis (West Ham United), 20 Molly Pike (Leicester City), 21 Ella Morris (Southampton), 22 Fran Bentley (Bristol City), 24 Grace Ayre (Durham)

Head coach: Mo Marley

Goals: Angela Addison 48, Laura Blindkilde Brown 85, Missy Bo Kearns 90+3