Elliot double helps England U21 beat Northern Ireland

Liverpool's Tyler Morton opened the scoring for England Under-21s

Harvey Elliott's second-half double helped England to a comfortable win over Northern Ireland in their 2025 Euro Under-21 Championship qualifying match at Goodison Park.

Reds team-mate Tyler Morton had already drilled home to open the scoring on his full debut in the first half as England largely dominated a Northern Ireland side who are bottom of the group with just three points.

England's last home match was a 9-1 thrashing of Serbia but this time they were without Manchester City duo Rico Lewis and Cole Palmer, who have since made their debuts for Gareth Southgate's senior team.

Their absence did not stop the hosts from controlling the match, though, with their visitors unable to register a shot on target all match.

Morton drilled the opener home low into the corner after a cross from Newcastle's Tino Livramento was cleared to him on the edge of the penalty area.

It was mostly one-way traffic, although defenders Jarrad Branthwaite and Jarell Quansah were on hand to stop the few times Northern Ireland looked to counter-attack.

Chelsea's Noni Madueke went close after being put through by an excellent pass from Quansah before Jay Stansfield, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and Hayden Hackney all had chances to score.

England continued to dominate after the break and it was not long before they doubled their lead.

Elliott was fouled around 25 yards out and he picked himself up to take the resulting free-kick, curling the ball over the wall and into the bottom corner.

Elliott then struck again when he was played through the middle of the Northern Ireland defence and he chipped the ball confidently over keeper Josh Clarke to make it 3-0.

The visitors' closest chance came when left-back Aaron Donnelly put a dangerous cross into the six-yard box, which was well taken by goalkeeper James Trafford.

Elliott nearly got his hat-trick late on with an acrobatic volley but the effort was well saved by Clarke.