Report: England WU17s 3-1 Netherlands

England women’s under-17s got 2024 off to a good start, with a 3-1 win over the Netherlands at the Pinatar Arena in Spain.

Natalie Henderson’s Young Lionesses kicked-off the first of three games this week at the venue and they made an electric start to the new year.

Only 23 seconds of the game had passed when they took the lead, as Denny Draper slotted home inside the area to give England a dream start.

And Leicester City forward Draper doubled England's advantage and her own tally just after the half-hour mark, again showing her finishing prowess after being sent clear on goal and cooly firing home.

Draper completed a first-half hat-trick seven minutes before the break, this time firing an angled shot past Dutch ‘keeper Danae Van Der Vliet and seeing it go in off the post.

The Dutch will have been disappointed to go in at the break three goals behind, having squandered a number of good chances themselves.

It was almost 4-0 shortly into the second half when Lola Brown’s free-kick came crashing back off the bar after 52 minutes, before the Netherlands pulled a goal back when Victoria Boerboom’s free-kick floated beyond everyone to creep past Hope McSheffrey.

But Henderson’s side did well to manage the game, to register their first win of the week before they take on the Phillipines in the MIMA Cup on Monday afternoon (3pm GMT). They will then round off the trip with another match on Thursday against either Scotland or Sweden.

England: 1 Hope McSheffrey (Arsenal), 2 Nelly Las (Leicester City), 3 Sophie Harwood (Southampton), 4 Laila Harbert (Arsenal/Watford) ( C), 6 Cecily Wellesley-Smith (Oxford United), 9 Denny Draper (Leicester City), 10 Vera Jones (Barry Town), 11 Lola Brown (Chelsea), 14 Omotara Junaid (Arsenal), 15 Niamh Peacock (Arsenal), 18 Eva Hendle (Chelsea).

Substitutes: 21 Eva Gray (Arsenal) for Harwood 46, 20 Mia Endacott (Plymouth Argyle) for Hendle 46, 5 Simone Sherwood (Leicester City) for Peacock 62, 19 Isabella Fisher (Arsenal) for Draper 62, 8 Emily Cassap (Sunderland) for Junaid

Substitutes not used: 12 Sophie Harrison (Arsenal), 13 Rebekah Dowsett (Watford/Leicester City), 16 Issy Hobson (Everton), 17 Tamira Livingston (Manchester United), 22 Eva Spencer (Liverpool), 23 Abby Kay (Chelsea), 24 Grace McEwen (Brighton & Hove Albion)

Head coach: Natalie Henderson

Goals: Denny Draper 1, 32, 38