England boosted by Norway win

England 2-1 Norway
England will go into their forthcoming UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ qualifiers in good heart after a morale-boosting friendly win against FIFA Women's World Cup semi-finalists Norway in Larnaca.

Smith winner
These nations are on a training camp in Cyprus along with fellow 2007 World Cup qualifiers Sweden, who defeated England 2-0 on Tuesday. But the game went the way of Hope Powell's side today against a team for whom Runa Vikestad was making her senior debut. Fara Williams headed in a Karen Carney cross just after half-time but that was quickly cancelled out from distance by Ingvild Stensland. However, Kelly Smith converted a 64th-minute penalty to decide the game after Carney was fouled by Christine Nilsen, filling the boots of Bente Nordby, who recently retired from international football after more than a decade in the Norwegian goal.

Qualifiers
Powell said: "We were diligent, we worked really hard and it was a very good collective performance by the girls. We've beaten a world class team, and although I wouldn't say we outplayed them I felt we were worthy winners of an excellent game and a very tough test for us." Norway take on Sweden on Saturday, but the first of these UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ qualifying group leaders to return to competitive action are England, who visit Northern Ireland on 6 March and welcome the Czech Republic a fortnight later.