England U21s 3-0 Northern Ireland U21s: Harvey Elliott scores twice as Young

Tyler Morton, on loan from Liverpool at Hull, opened the scoring with his first for England U21s before Harvey Elliott took centre stage to complete comfortable 3-0 win at Goodison Park for the Young Lions over Northern Ireland

Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott lit up Goodison Park as England U21s eased past Northern Ireland 3-0 on Tuesday.

Reds team-mate Tyler Morton, on loan at Hull, opened the scoring with his first for the U21s. It leaves them second in Group F, three points behind Ukraine who beat Azerbaijan 1-0.

In what looks increasingly likely to be a straight shootout for the group win, the pair play each other in the penultimate game in October, and the Young Lions are in the rare position of playing catch-up.

It is clearly a chase they can achieve and, while boss Lee Carsley will say otherwise, the last game with his youngsters until March was a stroll after they dominated from the off, the gulf in class obvious.

Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite, captain on home turf, was the first to waste a decent opening when he failed to connect with Tino Livramento’s knock-back as England struggled to find an early way past the robust Northern Ireland backline, marshalled by Ruairi McConville and Michael Forbes.

Noni Madueke curled wide after 20 minutes and Jay Stansfield miscued a half-volley from Hayden Hackney’s cross but they were half-chances, rather than the Young Lions slicing through their opponents.

They continued to dominate and press, James Trafford a spectator in goal, and Elliott shot wide but the killer touch continued to elude the hosts – until Northern Ireland finally wilted under the pressure after 31 minutes.

That it came from a misplaced cross mattered little as Madueke’s centre evaded Stansfield but was only cleared to Morton on the edge of the area and the midfielder drilled low into the corner.

From there, an England victory was rarely in doubt. Without Cole Palmer and Rico Lewis, elevated to the senior squad last week, they were perhaps missing a zip centrally but Madueke and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens offered enough on the flanks.

Indeed, Chelsea’s Madueke teed up Hackney to shoot over before Elliott doubled the lead after 50 minutes.

The Liverpool player was clattered by Terry Devlin 25 yards out before exacting perfect revenge by bending a free-kick into the bottom corner.

Madueke was denied by Josh Clarke as England hunted a third and it was Elliott who…