John Peacock praised his goalkeeper Freddie Woodman for producing a decisive "turning point" in England U17s' match with Czech Republic.
In front of a noisy home support, the hosts started the game on the front foot and almost took the lead when Vaclav Cerny hit a shot from the halfway line that was placed inch-perfect just under the crossbar, but Woodman showed great reflexes to get back and tip the ball over the bar.
That incident seemed to wake England from their slumber, and from then on they controlled the game and deservedly won thanks to a Dominic Solanke strike.
“When your 'keeper makes a great reaction save like Freddie did, it does give everyone a lift.”
John Peacock Head Coach
Peacock said: “We need good goalkeepers – you are going to have to always make a save or two when you are playing the host country in front of a partisan crowd and we are lucky to have two in this squad.
"We had been watching the videos and knew that he liked to shoot from distance, so we were expecting it, but it was a great save.
"When your 'keeper makes a great reaction save like Freddie did, it does give everyone a lift and I think it did that against Czech Republic."
After a slow start, Peacock said he was pleased with the response his side gave, and he was "delighted" to see the pressing game they had worked on in training pay off with the match winner.
He added: "We told them before the game that they had trained really hard and prepared right all week. The best teams transfer that onto the pitch, and I felt for the first 20 minutes we did not. We didn’t make clinical decisions, and kept giving the ball back in silly areas.
"It’s this pressure situation – you have to deal with it and not put yourselves under pressure like we did for the first 20 minutes.
Peacock was pleased with his side's reaction in their opening Euro qualifier
"But after that, we got back into it and had a few chances. We had a word at half time, and the second half was much better and we controlled it from start to finish."
"The tempo was much better and because we were making the correct decisions, we retained the ball a lot more. And that is what led to the goal, with Izzy pressurising and nicking it off their defender.
"I’d said to Dominic after he had missed a few that he would get the next one, and although it was a tap in from two yards, I’m delighted for him and all the squad because everyone played their part."
With Italy edging the other group game 2-1 against Albania, Peacock knows that two more hard tests await in their final two matches.
Peacock concluded: "The win got us off to a positive start, and we knew from the very beginning that it would go right to the wire. But we have made a good start and we’ll look to build on that now against Albania."
