Super seven for England MU17s against Armenia

England men’s under-17s kicked off their UEFA U17 EURO qualifying campaign with an emphatic 7-0 win over Armenia.

Tom Curtis’ side dominated throughout at the Olympic Stadium in Minsk this afternoon and won courtesy of an own goal from Mark Avetisyan and goals from Joshua Feeney, Emre Tezgel, Kane Taylor, Amario Cozier Duberry, Jamie Donley and Kobbie Mainoo.

The Young Lions will play three group games in Belarus in the next week as they build towards trying to book their place at the UEFA Under-17 European Championship Finals in Israel next year.

Next up comes two fixtures in Borisov as they take on hosts Belarus on Tuesday at 2pm BST (4pm local) and then Slovakia on Friday at 1pm BST (4pm local).

The top two from the 13 mini qualifying groups and the four third-placed teams with the best records against the top two in their section will then join top seeds Netherlands and Spain in the qualifying ‘elite’ round in the Spring, with 15 countries eventually joining hosts Israel in the Finals.

England were comfortable throughout this contest and they took the lead midway through the first half when a dangerous cross from the right by Middlesbrough’s Sonny Finch was turned into his own net by a backtracking Avetisyan.

The advantage was doubled on 37 minutes when Manchester City midfielder Nico O’Reilly’s corner was met expertly by Aston Villa’s Feeney, who sent a header from close to the penalty spot looping into the top corner.

The dominance continued in the second half and the lead extended to three 11 minutes after the restart, when Stoke City midfielder Tezgel showed good feet in the penalty area before poking the ball past Hayk Khachatryan.

The result was guaranteed just after the hour mark when substitute Kane Taylor made an immediate impact, smashing the ball into the roof of the net from ten yards out.

And it was another replacement, Arsenal forward Cozier Duberry, who made it five when he headed in a superb cross from Aston Villa’s Travis Patterson.

It looked as though it was going to end 5-0 but then the Young Lions scored two goals in a matter of minutes as the match came to a close.

When substitute Jamie Donley was brought down in the box by Levon Bashoyan, the Spurs forward got up to dispatch the spot kick.

And moments later, Manchester United’s Kobbie Mainoo, picked up the ball 35 yards from goal and after a one-two with Jobe Bellingham, skilfully got past several defenders and struck a shot which was too powerful for Khachatryan.

England: 1 Tommy Setford (Ajax), 4 Rio Kyerematen (Tottenham Hotspur), 6 Joshua Feeney (Aston Villa), 8 Nico O’Reilly (Manchester City) ©, 9 Jobe Bellingham (Birmingham City), 11 Sonny Finch (Middlesbrough), 14 Emre Tezgel (Stoke City), 15 Isaac Smith (Manchester City), 17 Habeeb Ogunneye (Manchester United), 19 Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United), 20 Travis Patterson (Aston Villa)

Substitutes: 2 Josh Davidson (Liverpool) for Ogunneye 61, 16 Kane Taylor (Manchester City) for O’Reilly 61, 18 Samuel Rak-Sakyi (Chelsea) for Kyerematen 62, 10 Jamie Donley (Tottenham Hotspur) for Tezgel 68, 12 Amario Cozier-Duberry (Arsenal) for Finch 68

Substitutes not used: 13 Darryl Ombang (Leeds United), 3 Oliver Scarles (West Ham United), 5 Tyler Fredricson (Manchester United), 7 Leo Castledine (Chelsea)

Head coach: Tom Curtis

Goals: Mark Avetisyan own-goal 23, Joshua Feeney 37, Emre Tezgel 56, Kane Taylor 64, Amario Cozier Duberry 77, Jamie Donley 88 (p), Kobbie Mainoo 89