England progress to UEFA Women's U17 elite round with win over Bosnia

Thursday 24 Oct 2019
Lydia Bedford (far left) has guided her side to two wins from two

England have progressed to the elite qualifying round of the UEFA Women’s U17 Championship after a comfortable 4-0 win over Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Lydia Bedford’s side followed up their 2-0 defeat of Croatia on Monday, leaving them top of their first round qualifying group on six points.

Chelsea’s Aggie Beever-Jones opened the scoring on 14 minutes and Maria Edwards made it 2-0 before the break.

England 4-0 Bosnia
  • UEFA Women's U17 Championship
  • First Round Qualifier
  • Thursday 24 October 2019
  • in Zenica, Bosnia
Lucy Watson extended the lead early in the second half and Maisie Symonds added a fourth with just under quarter of an hour remaining.

England’s final first round qualifier is against second-placed Belgium on Sunday.

The Young Lionesses are five points clear of third-placed Bosnia and are guaranteed a spot in the elite round.

The elite round draw will take place on 21 November.

Sweden will host the eight-team finals next May which will act as Europe's qualifier for the 2020 FIFA U17 Women's World Cup in India.

England (4-3-3): 13 Sophie Hillyerd (Bristol City); 20 Ruby Mace (Arsenal), 4 Anouk Denton (Arsenal), 10 Jorja Fox (Chelsea), 3 Anna Phillips (Manchester City); 18 Mia Ross (Liverpool), 17 Maria Edwards (Manchester United), 16 Maisie Symonds (Chelsea); 19 Deearna (Missy) Goodwin (Birmingham City), 15 Lucy Watson (Doncaster Rovers Belles), 2 Aggie Beever-Jones (Chelsea).

Substitutes: 8 Freya Gregory (Birmingham City) for Phillips 65, 5 Caitlin Smith (Chelsea) for Fox 65, 12 Lexi Lloyd-Smith (Chelsea) for Watson 76, 7 Emily Murphy (Chelsea) for Edwards 77.

Substitutes not used: 1 Frances Angel (Brighton & Hove Albion), 6 Charlotte Wardlaw (capt; Chelsea), 9 Jessica Brown (Sunderland), 11 Laura Brown (Birmingham City), 14 Lucy O’Brien (MK Dons).

Goals: Beever-Jones 14, Edwards 38, Watson 54, Symonds 76

Head coach: Lydia Bedford

By Glenn Lavery