Rønning gets Norway going against Belarus

Norway made a near faultless start to UEFA European Under-17 Championship elite round Group 6 with an emphatic victory against Belarus in Saint Herblain.

Øyvind Nilsen's side fell behind to Pavel Savitski's 22nd-minute free-kick but recovered to lead 3-1 at the break. Two more goals followed in the second half as the Scandinavian side started strongly ahead of Sunday's meeting with hosts France. Belarus are in action against Georgia on the same day.

Savitski struck the first blow for Belarus, beating Norway goalkeeper Øystein Øvretveit with a fine free-kick after Ivar Erlien Furu had fouled Ilya Zatenko on the edge of the penalty area. Norway were level within seven minutes, however, as an Ole Kristian Selnæs effort rebounded off Belarus defender Stanislau Izhakouski for Ohi Kwoeme to score from close range.

Martin Rønning then put Norway in command before the interval, heading in a Kjetil Kalve cross in the 36th minute and scoring his second and his team's third in added time at the end of the first period. Norway's dominance continued after the restart, Veton Berisha heading in a fourth from point-blank range in the 47th minute before the impressive Rønning completed his hat-trick with a 25-metre free-kick.

"We were very anxious and nervous at the start of the match and they scored with their first chance," said Norway coach Nilsen. "I was a little worried we would have more problems, but the boys dealt with the situation and managed to come back into the game and won very fairly." Rønning added: "It was good for us to win the first match and to score so many goals. We had a bad start, but we came back to win."

Belarus coach Valiantsin Mikheyeu said: "There's nothing to do about the result, we played our own game but lost. Despite this loss, we can still qualify; there's two matches remaining."