Practice Makes Perfect For Hero Woodman

By Anthony Marshall - Newcastle United Managing Editor

Practice made perfect for penalty hero Freddie Woodman on Wednesday night, as England Under-17s were crowned European Champions.

The 17-year-old goalkeeper saved one spot-kick as the Young Lions triumphed over Holland in a shoot-out, having played out a 1-1 draw in normal time.

It was Woodman's second penalty stop of the tournament, to go with one in a group stage victory, and after plenty of hard work on the training pitch, the United youngster always had faith in his own ability.

"It's unbelievable and a dream come true," Woodman told thefa.com.

"I couldn't believe it when Jonjoe Kenny put his penalty away. I just thought it was too good to be true and to win on penalties, after two good teams had fought it out like we had, it was probably the perfect way.

"As soon as it went to penalties I knew that I'd save one or two.

"I feel I have good ability with penalties, and our lads were great with theirs, and their keeper stood no chance on any of them.

"We've been practising in training for the last few weeks, and now that hard work has paid off.

"Words cannot describe how we feel now.

"We showed great spirit throughout this competition and I just can't believe we are champions of Europe."