England surge past Sweden

UEFA European Under-17 Championship elite round Group 7 hosts England made a fine start to their campaign with four unanswered goals against Sweden.

England were always on top against their visitors and recorded a comprehensive victory, with Connor Wickham, Benik Afobe, Robert Hall and William Keane on target. Manager John Peacock said: "We always try and win the first game of any tournament and to come away with a 4-0 victory is a bonus."

Both their first two goals were the creation of the talented Joshua McEachran, who sparkled down the left flank and combined well with one of England's veterans of the 2009 finals, Luke Garbutt. On 21 minutes McEachran's pass was collected by Wickham, who sidestepped his man and fired under Davor Blazevic. England then doubled their advantage 11 minutes later, when McEachran's free-kick was headed in by Afobe.

There was hope for Sweden when England's Samuel Johnstone was sent off for a foul on Simon Hedlund, however Nathaniel Chalobah and Andre Wisdom in the hosts' defence held off the pressure. At the other end, Keane hit the post with 12 minutes left and McEachran's replacement Robert Hall scored following a mazy run down the right. Keane finally registered in added time, following Hall's cutback.

"I thought we dealt with the situation really well," Peacock said. "We coped with going down to ten men and remained nice and steady. We had to work that little bit harder obviously but we got into a nice shape.

"We'll keep our feet on the ground, refocus for Monday, treat Malta with the respect they deserve and then hopefully we'll be in the right frame of mind to face Slovakia back here on Thursday." Sweden face Slovakia on Tuesday before ending group duties against Malta.