England U21 manager Gareth Southgate has praised Jordan Pickford for his performance on Monday.

The Sunderland goalkeeper, who is on loan at Preston North End, continually denied Norway in the Young Lions' 1-0 hard-fought Euro2017 qualifying win in Drammen.

Of the performance, Southgate said: "You don't always get to control games and I thought Norway were very good tonight.

"They used the ball very well in midfield and we didn't always come to terms with that and they tested our goalkeeper [Jordan Pickford] quite a bit and he stood up to that challenge, which was pleasing."

Southgate also highlighted the performance of his defence which consisted of Joe Gomez, Calum Chambers, Eric Dier and Matt Targett: "Generally, our defenders have defended well and although there were few chances, they've had to defend a lot and it was a good test for them which they've come through with a clean sheet."

Southampton midfielder and U21 captain James Ward-Prowse scored the only goal of the match from the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time.