Report: Portugal 0-1 England MU18s

England men’s under-18s finished their week in Porto with a victory over host nation Portugal on Tuesday morning.

Liam Bramley’s Young Lions had previously drawn both of their games with Czechia and France during March’s trip, but a first-half goal from Jesse Derry made sure they ended their visit on a high.

It was a well-worked goal too, with England playing through the thirds via Kian Noble’s incisive pass out of defence to captain Harry Amass.

He then played a ball into the left channel for Crystal Palace forward Derry to collect the pass, before he cut inside past a defender into the box and fired home an angled finish past Portuguese ‘keeper Diogo Ferreira.

England were enjoying a good spell, performing well against an aggressive press from the home team while dealing well defensively when they had to, with ‘keeper Oliver Whatmuff making a good block to deny Francisco Silva.

And they almost doubled their lead ten minutes before the break when Harrison Armstrong did well to win the ball on the byline before Josh Sonni-Lambie’s pass to the far post picked out Jack Fletcher who shot over.

The second half followed a similar pattern, with both teams looking to play on the front foot and create openings, but the best of the chances for an equaliser fell to sub Gustavo Ferreira who rounded Whatmuff only to see his shot scrambled cleared off the line by Noble.

England had to show their resolve as the game progressed, as Portugal forced some late pressure in the last ten minutes.

But with Whatmuff in commanding form in goal and a defence remaining equally stoic, the Young Lions held on for almost seven minutes of additional time to end their week with victory.

England: 1 Oliver Whatmuff (Manchester City), 2 Leo Shahar (Newcastle United), 3 Harry Amass (Manchester United) (c), 4 Kian Noble (Manchester City), 8 Harrison Armstrong (Derby County, loan from Everton), 10 Jack Fletcher (Manchester United), 11 Jesse Derry (Crystal Palace), 14 George Hemmings (Aston Villa), 17 Airidas Golambeckis (West Ham United), 21 Jonathan Moses Sesay (Southampton), 23 Josh Sonni-Lambie (Liverpool)

Substitutes: 20 Chukwuemeka Adiele (West Ham United) for Derry 55, 18 Mateus Mane (Wolverhampton Wanderers) for Fletcher 71, 6 Ollie Harrison (Chelsea) for Sesay 71, 12 Jaden Dixon (Stoke City) for Shahar 89,

Substitutes not used: 13 Jack Austin (Chelsea), 5 Samuel Amissah (Fulham), 15 Divine Mukasa (Manchester City), 22 Khari Ranson (Arsenal), 25 Freddy Bernal (Chelsea)

Head coach: Liam Bramley

Goal: Jesse Derry 12