England under-21 head coach Gareth Southgate said he was delighted for Marcus Rashford after he bagged a hat-trick in their 6-1 triumph over Norway in Colchester tonight.

Rashford, 18, hit the net three times on his England under-21 debut, as the Young Lions secured a comfortable win in their Euro 2017 Group Nine qualifier in front of a crowd of nearly 8,500 at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.

It was Rashford’s first appearance for the under-21s and he repeated his feat of scoring on his debut, having also netted on his first games for the England senior team, along with his maiden appearances in the Premier League and Europa League with Manchester United.

Southgate said: “I’m delighted with him.

“I said to him when he came off, “you’ve enjoyed your week haven’t you!”.

“I was tempted to say “it was nice working with you!”.

“He’s been willing to contribute and I couldn’t be happier with the way he approached it.

“All of the attention will be on Marcus and understandably so – I get that.

“But I thought that there were some excellent performances and they showed what they are capable of and that’s what we challenge England players to do."

Southgate revealed captain James Ward-Prowse was originally down as England’s penalty-taker.

But when England were awarded a penalty with the score at 4-1 at the time, the England under-21 boss said he was happy to allow Rashford to take the spot-kick and complete his hat-trick.

Southgate added: “It should have been Ward-Prowse to take the penalty but they accept it at 4-1 – I think if it had only been two or three it may have been different but it was OK, there were no dramas.”