Report: England MU17s 1-1 Morocco

England men’s under-17s had to settle for a 1-1 draw with Morocco in their second game of the Pinatar Arena Supercup.

England took the lead midway through the first half following some good work by Middlesbrough’s Finlay Cartwright. The midfielder gathered the ball on the edge of the box and performed a neat stepover before reaching the byline and pulling the ball back for Elliot Myles, leaving the Norwich City youngster with an easy finish.

Cartwright then went close himself soon after as he had a left-footed volley pushed away by Morocco goalkeeper Akabou Ayoube low down to his right.

Morocco could have pulled level shortly before the break when Ayoub Ouarghi curled a free-kick narrowly wide of the far post, alhough there was still time for Luca Fletcher to have a shot palmed over the bar from a tight angle.

There were few moments of note in the opening 20 minutes of the second half but then Morocco won a penalty when Houssam Kounia went down as Josh Hamilton looked to clear the ball.

The Morocco captain then stepped up and sent goalkeeper Douglass Lukjanciks the wrong way to make it 1-1.

Anis El Ghizizal had a low drive go wide for Morocco soon after but it was England who were in the ascendency after a number of substitutions by head coach Greg Lincoln.

Despite some good build-up play, Morocco always found a way to clear and England had to settle for the draw, although Shumaira Mheuka almost snatched a winner in the ninth minute of injury-time when he was unable to generate enough power on his shot from Mikey Moore’s cross.

The Young Lions will now switch their attention to Tuesday’s game against the hosts Spain, with kick-off at 5pm BST.

England: 13 Douglass Lukjanciks (Everton), 6 Kian Noble (Manchester City) ©, 11 Jay Robinson (Southampton), 12 Leke Drake (Manchester City), 14 Luca Fletcher (Manchester City), 15 Chukwuemeka Adiele (West Ham United), 16 Finlay Cartwright (Middlesbrough), 17 Elliot Myles (Norwich City), 18 Femi Fapetu (Manchester City), 19 Souleymane Sidibe (Stoke City), 21 Jethro Medine (West Ham United)

Substitutes: 10 Mikey Moore (Tottenham Hotspur) for Sidibe 58, 4 Joshua King (Fulham) for Myles 58, 7 Shea Lacey (Manchester United) for Fapetu 58, 2 Jayce Fitzgerald (Manchester United) for Noble 58, 23 Joshua Hamilton (Leeds United) for Robinson 58, 8 Christopher Rigg (Sunderland) for Medine 67, 9 Shumaira Mheuka (Chelsea) for Cartwright 67, 3 Christian McFarlane (New York City) for Fletcher 67, 22 Nicolas Michalski (Blackburn Rovers) for Lukjanciks 80, 20 Callum Olusesi (Tottenham Hotspur) for Adiele 81

Substitutes not used: 1 Spike Brits (Manchester City), 5 Freddie Simmonds (Brighton & Hove Albion)

Head Coach: Greg Lincoln

Goals: Elliot Myles 19