The Manchester City midfielder gave an assured performance to help the Young Lions defeat France 3-1 on Thursday, providing an assist and curling home a free-kick to fire John Peacock’s side to top spot in Group Four.
"It was really important to finish top of the group," Patching told TheFA.com. "It gives us a better seeding for the Elites, which will hopefully help us to push on and qualify for the tournament next summer.
England 3-1 France
UEFA European U17 Championship
First Qualifying Round
Thursday 30 October 2014
Paphiakos Stadium, Paphos, Cyprus
Patching’s strike came between Chris Willock’s opener and Jay DaSilva’s fine solo goal, and he believes the performance was the best his team-mates have produced this week.
"France were a good team and the hardest opposition that we’d played against," he said.
"They were good at keeping the ball, like us really, and I thought it was a good game. It was certainly our best performance of the week.
"It’s important that we as a team carry on with how we have performed in this. We will have to be as good as we can be in the Elite Round and hopefully we can qualify."
The opener arrived courtesy of some quick-thinking from Patching, as his quick corner caught the French defence napping to meet the run of Willock.
"I'd just seen Chrissy make the run past their defenders and they were slow to react, so I just gave him it and he did really well to score."
And then his own moment to shine arrived a minute before the half time whistle. Having won a free-kick 25 yards from goal, Marcus Edwards and Patching stood over the ball, and it was the latter who strode forward to double the advantage with a goal that provided an extra bit of satisfaction for the youngster.
"Me and Marcus were both over the kick, but he just said "You can have this one", and I had confidence that I could put it away and score," revealed Patching.
"I just picked my spot and put it there. I take them for my club, so it was nice to get one for my country too.
"Playing in Qatar for City last year, the same goalkeeper [Luca Zidane] was in goal for Real Madrid, and I took one against him. We were losing 1-0, and it was the last minute - I put it right in the corner but he managed to just save it so it was nice to put one past him.
"It was great to see it hit the net, and it had a little bit more edge to it as it was for England."
