Robinson stars as England end year unbeaten

Three Albion players - Maisie Symonds, Poppy Pattinson and Katie Robinson – played their part to help England U23s finish the year unbeaten after they drew 1-1 against Spain.

The match was switched to St George’s Park because Burton Albion’s pitch was waterlogged and Robinson soon made her mark, creating England’s goal for Ella Morris before having an effort of her own ruled out. Spain equalised with five minutes to go and both Robinson and Patterson played 90 minutes while Symonds, on her return to the U23s, played for 74 minutes.

Robinson had a productive few days. Last Friday she scored the only goal in England’s 1-0 victory against France with Pattinson also playing 90 minutes.

It was the concluding round of fixtures in the UEFA Nations League with several Albion players involved, some against each other.

Elisabeth Terland and Tatiano Pinto both played in Norway’s 4-0 victory over Portugal in Oslo. Group B concluded with Norway losing 2-1 in Austria, when Guro Bergsvand joined Terland in the starting XI. Pinto also played in Portugal’s 1-0 home defeat to group winners France.

Sweden’s Julia Zigiotti stunned World Cup winners Spain with a first-minute goal in their Group D finale. The visitors led 3-1 at one stage before Spain scored three goals in the last minutes to complete a 5-3 win. Zigiotti had been an unused substitute in the 1-0 defeat to Switzerland as Sweden finished third in the group.

Vea Sarri played both games for Greece in Group G but they lost 1-0 at home to Serbia and 2-0 in Poland. Nicky Evrard helped Belgium to a 1-1 draw against Scotland but a 4-0 loss to the Netherlands meant they rather than England qualified for the Olympics from Group A.

Charlie Rule became the 225th player to make her Australia debut in the 5-0 loss to Canada in Victoria. She was an unused sub when the teams met again three days later when the Matildas lost 1-0 to the Olympic champions.

Li Mengwen’s China played two friendlies against the United States and the Albion player figured in the 3-0 defeat in Fort Lauderdale.

Finally, Jorelyn Carabali was a substitute in Colombia's 1-0 victory over New Zealand in Bogota.