England stroll into second phase

England strolled through UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship first qualifying round Group 1 with three victories and 17 unanswered goals.

Decisive win
Lois Fidler's side took full control of the section with 7-0 victories against Belarus and hosts FYR Macedonia. They then made sure of progress to the second qualifying round in the spring with a 3-0 defeat of Wales, Lara Fay striking before the break, Kirsty Linnett adding another five minutes into the second half and substitute Elizabeth Ince converting a last-gasp penalty, having missed another not long after her introduction.

Wales held
Fay, Ince and Linnett were also among the scorers against Belarus in England's opening game, Nakita Parris, Danielle Carter and substitutes Alex Greenwood and Katie Wilkinson also on target. Wales were held 1-1 by FYR Macedonia, Megan Wynne's opener cancelled out with eleven minutes left by Natasa Andonova.

Belarus third
Wales gave themselves hope with a 2-0 defeat of Belarus, Hannah Keryakoplis's penalty and Molly Doran's strike settling the game in the first 15 minutes. There was another 7-0 win for England, Fay scoring twice and Wilkinson, Parris, Jessica Round, Kasia Lipka and Carter also adding goals to defeat FYR Macedonia. While England were beating Wales for first place, Belarus defeated the Macedonians 1-0 thanks to an early Tatsiana Markusheuskaya effort to end in third.