Norn Iron's U-16s took a point in a 2-2 draw in their Victory Shield campaign last night in Blackpool. Despite the impressive result, it was the kids' overall performance that raised the eyebrows in front of a contingent of hallions from the NoE NISC.
In a Sky Sports 2 showpiece and with Kyle Lafferty along to spur them on, our U-16s played a skilful and mature match that out classed their English counterparts throughout the game. George Beattie's schoolboys were unlucky not to win this game and came back twice in a determined effort to show how our young 'uns can shine internationally.
Shane Duffy was unlucky in the first half not to put the away team ahead and James Gray should have scored following some awesome midfield battling from Glenavon's Liam Bagnall.
Norn Iron's schoolboys more than had the measure of the Englanders in the first half. The second half started brightly only for our boys to fall behind when Everton's José Baxter, in front of a happy looking David Moyes, pushed in a cross that came off the post and to the feet of Jonjo Shelvey. Twelve minutes later Norn Iron were awarded a penner after Frimpong tripped Dungannon's Jamie Douglas to bring the scores level.
As time drew to a close (VS matches are 40 minutes each half) it was England's substitute Jason Banton who put the home side ahead after making some clever space at the edge of the box. It seems that the kids in green were going to suffer an undeserved defeat when sub Cormac Burke wellied a screamer from the edge of the area to beat England 'keeper Jed Steer.
It was a truly enjoyable game to watch showing some excellent skill and a maturity that would have surely beaten the Latvian senior team last month.
Final Score: England 2 (Shelvey 62, Banton 80+2) Norn Iron 2 (Duffy pen 73, Burke 80+4)
England: 1 Jed Steer (Norwich City), 2 Sam Byles (Arsenal) (12 Eddie Oshodi (Watford), 58), 3 Tom Browne (Reading) (16 Keanu Marsh Brown (Fulham), 45) 4 Emmanuel Frimpong (Arsenal) (14 Bruno Pilatos (Middlesbrough), 76) 5 Angus Macdonald (Reading), 6 Ezekiel Fryers (Manchester United), 7 Jason Lampkin (Manchester United) (18 Jason Banton (Arsenal), 62) 8 Ryan Tunnicliffe (Manchester United), 9 José Baxter (Everton), 10 Jonjo Shelvey (Charlton Athletic), 11 Josh McEachran (Chelsea) (17 Jacob Walcott (Reading), 45)
Subs Not Used: 13 Adam Davies (Everton), 15 Liam Head (Plymouth Argyle).
Norn Iron: 1 Wayne Drummond (Glentoran), 2 Matthew King (Linfield), 3 Dean Jarvis (Ballymoor FC), 4 Christopher Hegarty (Dungannon Swifts), 5 Shane Duffy (Foyle Harps), 6 Andrew Mitchell (Manchester City), 7 James Gray (Middlesbrough) (15 Cormac Burke (Trojans), 65) 8 Liam Bagnall (Glenavon) (17 Scott McCullough (Loughgall), 82) 9 Jamie Douglas (Dungannon Swifts), 10 Benny Quigg (Ballymena United), 11 Neil Dougan (Manchester City) (14 Aaron Burns (Linfield), 65)
Subs Not Used: 12 Andrew Dickey (Greenisland), 16 Patrick McEleney (Foyle Harps), 18 Michael Smith (Ballymena United), 19 Robbie Hume (Foyle Harps), 20 Gary Workman (Linfield)
Bookings: Shane Duffy (70 minutes)
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Attendance: 3,114
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