England debut for Dereham footballer

Dereham teenager Jackson Ramm made his international debut Tuesday night when England Under-18s beat their Poland counterparts 3-0 at Wycombe Wanderers.

Right-back Ramm, 17 (pictured), a former pupil at Neatherd High School, was part of the 18-man squad for the friendly match at Adams Park.

It was from one of his many surging runs that Ramm won the free-kick from which England's opening goal was headed home.

He also made a vital tackle to deny Poland a goal.

Ramm joined several of the England Under-17 squad who won the European Championships last season in being a given a chance to impress U18s boss Noel Blake.

'This game serves as an important exercise for the players,' said Blake. 'The U18s is an important age bracket for us and as a year group, there is plenty of talent and depth within it.

'Playing games at this level gives us an opportunity to test a few more players and see how they develop over the coming months.'

Ramm was released by the Norwich City academy before joining Cambridge United, but he was soon snapped up by Blackburn Rovers. Since making his first appearance for their academy side in the 2008/09 season, Ramm has developed rapidly and last season made 13 appearances for the club's reserves. He has continued to be involved with the reserves this term and started their last match, a 3-1 win against Sunderland last Monday.

Meanwhile, he is not the only member of the family hoping to carve out a footballing career – his younger brother Joshua is with the Norwich City Academy and another sibling, Jordan, plays for Dereham U11s.