Nigeria’s U20 women’s national team held off a spirited South Korea to claim a 2-1 win in Moncton and edge closer to reaching the knockout stages at the ongoing FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in Canada.

After opening their campaign with a 1-1 draw against Mexico, the Super Falconets opened scoring within seconds of the match against Korea through Courtney Dike who took advantage of shoddy defending to score the competition’s fastest ever goal.

It gave Nigeria the needed momentum and after Osarenoma Igbinovia, Asisat Oshoala and Loveth Ayila fail to score, the Chinwendu Ihezuo finally doubled Nigeria’s advantage just after the half-hour mark.

The second half began with the Falconets still dominating play, but the Asian champions created the better chances in search of a way back in the game.

And a goal came for the Koreans with 20 minutes to go when Kim Soyi latched on to a poor clearance by the Nigerian defence to set up a tense finale to the match.

But the Falconets held on to claim the win and go top of Group D with four points, ahead of England and Mexico with two points each while the Koreans now lie bottom of the group with one point.

The other group match saw England and Mexico share the points in a 1-1 draw, with Bethany Mead opening the scores for England with a dipping long range effort.

England were denied a second when Nikita Parris’ shot came off the post just after the hour mark. And with 20 minutes to go, Tanya Samarzich made England rue the missed chance when she bundled in a rebound of Fabiola Ibarra’s initial effort off the crossbar.

As a result, England need a win in their final group match against Nigeria to guarantee a place in the quarter-final, while Nigeria need only a draw to guarantee top spot in the group.