England blitzed Belarus with a superb 4-0 win in a friendly at Notts County earlier this week and Eastick was delighted to see his side start so well: “We came out of the blocks quickly and played some great football as well which was very pleasing.

“We all expect to do well against Iceland, Belgium and Romania next month and we’ll be looking to progress to the Elite section and then push onto the finals in the Czech Republic next year.

“The preliminary qualifiers will be tough as its three intense games in a short space of time but they’ll also be more time to work with the players on the training ground and get the little things right.”

The young Lions were 3-0 up inside the opening 20 minutes against Belarus and Eastick was pleased with his striking options that included the pacy Fabian Brandy and Sone Aluko: “We also had Andy Carroll in the side and he gave us some height to go along with the speed up front. He’s certainly a handful for defences and proved it this week.”

England’s barnstorming performance means that Eastick will have a few headaches when it comes to selecting the squad for October’s qualifiers: “There’s plenty of names in the frame for the tournament which is great because you want competition for places.

“I’ll also sit down with John Peacock and see who’s coming up from the age groups below as his set of players had a fantastic experience at the World Cup in South Korea and will be looking to push on.

“As long as we stay injury free and the clubs agree to release their players then we’ve got a great chance of making it through to the Elite stage."