Last 18 seconds of women's game replayed after blunder

(Reuters) - England and Norway returned to replay the last 18 seconds of their women's under-19 European Championship qualifier in Belfast on Thursday after UEFA acknowledged the referee of the original game made a mistake. The decision to replay the final moments followed an incident near the end of Saturday's game when England trailed 2-1 and were awarded a late penalty. The spot-kick was converted by Leah Williamson but referee Marija Kurtes disallowed the goal and awarded Norway an indirect free kick because an England player had entered the box before her team mate struck the ball. While the laws of the game state that Kurtes was right to disallow the goal, she should have ordered England to retake the penalty and not awarded an indirect free kick to the opposition. The decision to replay the final moments, the first of its kind by European soccer's ruling body UEFA, meant the teams returned to the Seaview Stadium with the same players who finished Saturday's match. This time Williamson scored from the penalty spot and the goal was awarded, securing a 2-2 draw that helped them qualify for the tournament finals. Referee Kurtes was not in charge of the remainder of the game after she was sent home following her mistake. Both sides had faced qualifiers earlier on Thursday, with England beating Switzerland 3-1 and Norway thrashing Northern Ireland 8-1 at the same time. (Reporting by Toby Davis and Michael Hann, editing by Tony Jimenez)