Substitute Ben Brereton’s late goal put England on the verge of securing a semi-final place at the UEFA U19 European Championship.
The Nottingham Forest striker pounced with five minutes to go to hand the Young Lions a thoroughly deserved victory over the Netherlands in Tbilisi.
This victory over a Dutch side who blew the Germans away 4-1 in their opening game, followed the 2-0 win over Bulgaria on Monday from Keith Downing's men.
It had been a stalled start to proceedings at a drizzly Mikheil Meskhi Stadium.
With barely a minute on the clock, Easah Suliman’s collision with Joel Piroe, hat-trick hero from that win over Germany, left the Dutchman floored in the middle of the pitch. After treatment for six minutes, the striker was eventually carried off on a stretcher wearing a neck brace and replaced by Jay-Roy Grot.
Whether or not that early blow affected the Dutch, England quickly got a grasp of this fixture that was not relinquished throughout a dominant first-half display that had everything but a goal.
With Ryan Sessegnon and Jay Dasilva a constant threat down the left, Mason Mount had an early drive from distance cleared off the line while Lukas Nmecha was denied a certain goal by Armando Obispo’s last-ditch block.
