England men's under-20s got their campaign off to an impressive start at St. George's Park on Monday afternoon, beating Romania by 6-1.
The Young Lions, under new head coach Andy Edwards, have been working together at the national football centre for the last week, culminating with the visit of the Romanians.
And it was a positive result for the hosts, who made a strong start to the game with Clinton Mola opening the scoring after just 15 minutes.
Manchester City's James McAtee doubled the lead eight minutes later to give England a two-goal cushion at the break.
It was in the second half when England really found their flow though, with substitute Joe Gelhardt adding a third less than ten minutes after the re-start.
Romania gave themselves a lifeline on the hour mark when Darius Ghindovean pulled a goal back for the visitors
Another sub in Jensen Weir restored the advantage after 74 minutes as England finished strongly with Leeds United striker Gelhardt getting his second of the game from the penalty spot.
And the scoring was rounded-off in the last minute as Jesurun Rak-Sakyi made it six for England.
The MU20s will be back in action next month when they face Italy at St. George’s Park on Thursday 7 October before an away trip to play Czech Republic on Monday 11 October.
England: 1 James Trafford (Manchester City, loan to Accrington Stanley), 2 Cody Drameh (Leeds United), 3 Lee Buchanan (Derby Counrty), 4 Lewis Bate (Leeds United), 5 Nathan Wood (Middlesbrough) (c), 6 Clinton Mola (VFB Stuttgart), Jaden Philogene-Bidace (Aston Villa), 8 Miguel Azeez (Arsenal), 9 Sam Greenwood (Leeds United), 10 James McAtee (Manchester City), 11 Alex Mighten (Nottingham Forest)
Substitutes: 19 Joe Gelhardt (Leeds United) for Philogene-Bidace 13, 18 Leighton Clarkson (Blackburn Rovers, loan from Liverpool) for Bate 46, 23 Dennis Cirkin (Sunderland) for Buchanan 46, 17 Morgan Rogers (AFC Bournemouth, loan from Manchester City) for Mighten 46, 15 James Hill (Fleetwood Town) for Wood 63, 14 Jensen Weir (Brighton & Hove Albion) for Azeez 63, 12 Kaine Kesler-Hayden (Swindon Town, loan from Aston Villa) for Drameh 63, 16 Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton) for Mola 73, 20 Louie Sibley (Derby County) for Greenwood 73, 21 Jesurun Rak-Sakyi (Crystal Palace) for McAtee 77
Substitutes not used: 13 Brad Young (Leicester City), 22 Harvey Davies (Liverpool)
Head coach: Andy Edwards
Goals: Clinton Mola 15, James McAtee 23, Joe Gelhardt 52 & 81 (p), Jensen Weir 74, Rak-Sakyi 90
