Young Academy striker Dean Bowditch is likely to win an England U17 cap this afternoon when John Peacock's side take on Greece in Drama.

The friendly is a warm-up ahead of a round robin mini-tournament played in England in mid-March involving the home side, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Scotland.

The tournament will decided the winners of Group Seven of the European U17 Championship qualifiers.

Bowditch, 16, has been involved in the reserves a lot lately and coach Steve McCall thinks that he will be pressing for a place in the first team before long. He told the club site: "Dean is on the verge of the first-team squad. The only thing holding him back is his physical presence and that will improve as he matures.

"He's on a weights programme, along with a number of the other lads and I would certainly not be surprised if he was involved at senior level before long."

Photo: Action Images

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