Serbia survive as England cruise

Serbia pipped Azerbaijan to second place in the last of the 13 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualifying round groups, with England ending five points clear at the top.

Azerbaijan out
John Peacock's side were sure of progress after opening by beating Kazakhstan 6-2 and Azerbaijan 4-0 and ended with a 1-0 win against Serbia through Benik Afobe's goal. Had Group 1 hosts Azerbaijan beating Kazakhstan by four goals they would have gone through at Serbia's expense on goal difference, but the game ended 3-1. Azerbaijan took 46 minutes to break the deadlock through Ruslan Taghizade and Utrobin quickly equalised. In the last seven minutes Haji Ahmadov converted a penalty and Abdulla Abatsiyev also scored.

Wickham hat-trick
England were three up after 24 minutes against Kazakhstan with a William Keane goal sandwiched by efforts from Luke Garbutt and Afobe, two of the four players form last year's finals squad still involved. Islambek Kuat and Nikita Utrobin quickly reduced the deficit but substitute Robert Hall struck twice in the last 24 minutes before Afobe claimed his second goal. Serbia and Azerbaijan drew 0-0. Stefan Rudić's goal ensured Serbia beat Kazakhstan 1-0 two days later and England overcame Azerbaijan 4-0 with a first-half Connor Wickham hat-trick added to by substitute Afobe.

Lesson learned
Peacock told TheFA.com: "Against Kazakhstan, although it was great to get six goals, we let in a couple of cheap goals and I think that's a lesson for the boys that they have to learn to manage the game better and not get complacent. I told them at half-time that conceding goals like that is not good enough if they want to compete in the European finals next year. And to be fair to them, they scored four goals against Azerbaijan but made sure they didn't concede and that was particularly pleasing. If anything we should have won the game by more, but they've made it through to the Elite round with a game to spare, so I'm more delighted with that."