Wednesday 10 August 2011

England ease past Norway

England defeated Norway 3-1 in a friendly at Barnsworth FC's Barns Park stadium.

James Douglas, Adam Carter and Garry Stratford got the goals for England, while Marcos Mora scored a penalty for the visitors.

Head coach Marco Garibaldi had debuted a new 4-3-3 formation, with John Carey and Carter on the wings and Edward Redwood in the 'false number nine' role.

And already the Norwegian defenders couldn't handle with the pace of the three combined, skipper Bjørn Terke being left for dead by Carey on more than one occasion.

Midfielder James Douglas was left in acres of space and he tried his luck from 30 yards and it zoomed into the top corner after 12 minutes, 1-0 to England.

A brilliant bit of skill from Redwood saw him one-twoing with Craig CraiCo, nutmegging Stig Gunnar Sundevahl and then crossing for Adam Carter who volleyed into the net. 2-0 after less than 30 minutes.

In the second half, the Norwegians at this point decided to stop hoofing long balls out to no-one, and suddenly changed to an attacking, pass-oriented game.

And they created some good chances, striker Erik Lyngstad hitting the bar after good wing play from Christian Eggen.

Marcos Mora also had a free-kick acrobatically saved by Simon Herding.

Eventually, English resistance was finally broken when full-back Danny Miller needless hauled down Dan Gravstad in the area, and Mora slotted the resulting penalty to make it 2-1 with less than an hour gone.

But Norway were denied a comeback when Garry Stratford's free-kick curled into the top corner 14 minutes from time.

England:
Simon Herding; Danny Miller, Mark Strickland, Daniel Perry, Ashton Reid; James Douglas, Garry Stratford, Craig CraiCo; Edward Redwood, John Carey, Adam Carter.

Norway: Tore Sigfridsen; Ola André Ibsen, John Andersen, Bjørn Terke, Daniel Gravstad; Christian Eggen, Stig Gunnar Sundevahl, Daniel Olsen, Marcos Mora; Erik Lyngstad, Eirik Lund.

Referee: Simon LeClair (France).