Report: England WU23s 1-0 Portugal

England women’s under-23s ended their week on a high, after late drama in Shrewsbury saw the Young Lionesses beat Portugal by 1-0 thanks to Michelle Agyemang’s winner.

Emma Coates’ Young Lionesses had been pushing for a breakthrough for most of the second half and it looked as though they might have to settle for a second draw of the week, following their 1-1 result against the Netherlands last week.

But player-of-the-match Agyemang proved the difference as she fired home an 86th-minute free-kick in front of a record WU23s’ home crowd of 2953.

It was nothing less than England deserved too, with Agyemang testing Portugal ‘keeper Adriana Rocha after just six minutes with a stinging shot.

And Rocha was then forced into another save as a smart England corner routine saw Missy Bo Kearns lay the ball off to Ruby Mace, whose shot was well saved by the Portuguese keeper.

With half time on the horizon, the best opportunity came to Kearns as she latched onto Teyah Goldie’s brilliant ball over the Portuguese defence. The England captain was one-on-one with the onrushing keeper and tried to lob her, but her effort unfortunately just sailed over.

After the break, there was another good chance for England in the 53rd minute as Agyemang did well to beat off the Portuguese defence, carry the ball forward at pace and play a fine ball through to Mia Enderby, only for the visitors to scramble clear again.

Rocha then produced a stunning double save to deny substitute Freya Godfrey a goal with her first touch on her WU23s debut, before blocking Agyemang’s follow-up on the rebound.

Kearns then played a pass in behind the defence for Godfrey on the left-hand side, only for her second effort to be blocked too.

The skipper still wasn’t finished, as another defence-splitting ball saw Agyemang released at pace before her shot was diverted behind for a corner before Rocha saved Brooke Aspin’s header from Kearns' corner.

And after having kept England at bay throughout, it was a misjudgement from Rocha which led to England’s winner as she handled it just outside of her area. Agyemang stepped up to rifle the resulting free-kick into the bottom corner to prompt a celebratory mood in Shropshire

England: 1 Kayla Rendell (Southampton), 2 Olivia McLoughlin (Rangers), 3 Lucy Parry (Liverpool), 4 Ruby Mace (Leicester City), 5 Brooke Aspin (Crystal Palace), 6 Teyah Goldie (London City Lionesses), 7 Katie Robinson (Aston Villa), 8 Missy Bo Kearns (Aston Villa), 9 Michelle Agyemang (Brighton & Hove Albion), 10 Laura Blindkilde Brown (Manchester City), 11 Mia Enderby (Liverpool)

Substitutes: 12 Anouk Denton (West Ham) for Parry 64, 18 Freya Godfrey (Arsenal) for Enderby 67,   21 Lenna Gunning-Williams (Tottenham Hotspur) for Robinson 87

Substitutes not used: 13 Fran Stenson (Southampton), 14 Tara Bourne (Southampton), 15 Hannah Silcock (Liverpool), 16 Lucia Kendall (Southampton), 17 Ruby Grant (BK Hacken), 19 Isobel Goodwin (London City Lionesses), 20 Freya Gregory (Southampton), 22 Fran Bentley (Bristol City), 23 Ashanti Akpan (Birmingham City)

Head coach: Emma Coates

Goal: Michelle Agyemang 86