NEWCASTLE UNITED youngster Paul Woolston is tiring of the comparisons with club-mate Freddie Woodman, and he aims to stop them by writing his own piece of history with England Under-17s.

Woolston saw Woodman, a year his elder, perform heroics 12 months ago as he helped the Young Lions to win the European Championship with a penalty shoot-out victory over Holland.

Fellow Magpies stopper Woolston is now firmly established in his own right as the number one for his country at U17s level, and he outlined his ambitions ahead of tomorrow’s Euro quarter-final with Russia.

“Listen, what Freddie achieved and his performances last year were brilliant. I want to replicate his feat by winning the tournament, but I want to do it my way,” said Woolston.

“I want to make sure that we don’t get to penalties, I want to win it the way I want by doing it inside the 80 minutes, and the lads not having to rely on me in a shoot-out. Of course I’d be confident if any of our games go to pens, but I’d rather win a match outright.”

Woolston’s presence in net has coincided with an impressive record for John Peacock’s youngsters – conceding only once from the spot in their three games in Bulgaria.

The North Shields-born shot-stopper is yet to taste defeat yet for the Young Lions since making his debut last August, and has no plans on sampling it any time soon.

“It’s 12 games, nine wins and three draws. I was with my dad the other day writing them down. It’s something I don’t think many people have achieved, so I’m hoping I can continue that streak up until the final,” he said.

“We couldn’t have started the tournament much better. It was the toughest group out of the four so to get two wins and a draw has been a good start.

“Having a set back-four in front of me has made it easier and we have got a good understanding. We know how each other plays and we recognise how we can help each other out.”

The 16-year-old is joined in the squad by Leeds United’s Will Huffer. The pair met at their coach Simon Smith’s goalkeeper camp last year, and a strong friendship and rivalry between the duo is pushing Woolston to continue improving.

“We have met each other a few times at Simon’s goalkeeper camps, we get on well,” he said. “He keeps pushing me to perform too, which is also a good thing.

“If something did happen to me and Will had to come on, I know that he would come in and do fine. The competition between us would then become even greater than it already is, which would be a good thing for the squad.”