Hall on England high

Robert Hall earned another cap when playing the full 90 minutes for England Under-17s in a 3-0 friendly win against Ukraine on Sunday.

The West Ham United striker, still only 16, had sat out Saturday's 1-1 draw with France at the Algarve Tournament in southern Portugal but was back in John Peacock's starting lineup for Sunday's contest. He will hope to keep his place for the final outing on Tuesday against the host nation.

The goals came from Luke Garbutt's penalty, John Cofie and Saido Berahino. The tournament is a warm-up for the U17s next step in the 2010 UEFA European U17 Championship qualifying stage. They host an Elite round mini-tournament between 27 March and 1 April featuring Sweden, Slovakia and Malta with the group winners progressing to the eight-nation summer finals.

Hall will be back with the Academy later in the week but fellow forward Daniel Purdy has already returned to the club after his winning strike for the Republic of Ireland in their U17 friendly against Hungary on Thursday. The Hammers youngster struck the only goal of the game from the penalty spot. The Irish are also preparing for a UEFA U17 Elite round mini-tournament against Austria, Finland and Greece between 19 and 24 March.