England beat Norway in final friendly

England 2-0 Norway
England beat Norway in their final friendly before the UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

Stuart Pearce's side begin their finals campaign against Spain next Sunday before facing the Czech Republic and Ukraine in Group B. They will head to Denmark full of confidence after Sunday's showing at Southampton FC's St Mary's Stadium, Daniel Sturridge and Danny Rose doing the damage against opponents they will face once more in 2013 UEFA European U21 Championship qualifying.

England went in front on nine minutes thanks to Sturridge's fourth goal in 12 U21 appearances, the Chelsea FC striker connecting with club team-mate Ryan Bertrand's pass to beat Norway keeper Arild Østbø. The visitors pushed for an equaliser and forced Frank Fielding into impressive stops to deny Flamur Kastrati and Valon Berisha – the latter via a deflection off Mads Stokkelien.

The hosts doubled their lead five minutes from half-time, however, Rose bending the ball past Østbø having been picked out by Chris Smalling's raking pass. Pearce's five half-time substitutes did little to halt England's momentum and they were nearly three up through Sturridge, whose curling effort was well thwarted by Østbø. Smalling, Sturridge and Jack Rodwell all went close to adding a third but it mattered not for the damage had already been done.