Ashley Smith-Brown breathed a sigh of relief after his first international goal gave England Under-19s victory in their opening European Championship elite round qualifier.
The Young Lions trailed Denmark twice in Bayeux, northern France, but twice they responded through captain Izzy Brown and a Magnus Pedersen own goal.
And right-back Smith-Brown saved the best till last, smashing home a stunning left-foot shot which bounced in off the crossbar. It was his first England goal in 27 development team matches.
England 3-2 Denmark
UEFA U19s European Championship
Elite Qualifying Round
5pm, Thursday 26 March 2015
Henri Jeanne Stadium, Bayeux
Smith-Brown said: "I've been waiting for that first goal for a few years now so I was delighted to see it go in.
"I connected pretty well and it just flew in.
"But it was more important because it was the winner and it means we start the qualifiers with all three points."
Sean O’Driscoll’s side went 1-0 down after just six minutes when Marcus Ingvartsen poked home at the far post. Brown levelled, but England fell behind once more just before the break as Robert Skov found a yard of space inside the box to angle a shot into the far corner.
But England responded for a second time, laying the foundations for Smith-Brown’s wonder strike.
The Manchester City defender added: "I thought we showed great character to come back twice.
"Denmark are a decent side so we're obviously really happy to come away with the win.
"We haven’t gone behind in any game this season so it was good that we could show the character to fight back. It puts us in a great position in the group."
The only downside was a late red card for Tottenham midfielder Harry Winks for two bookable offences – and he will now miss Saturday’s second group match, against Azerbaijan, through suspension.
Smith-Brown said: "All the lads have already put their arm around him.
"Red cards are one of those things that happen in the game so we'll make sure that Harry is ready for the France game next week."
Only the top-placed team in the group will qualify for the Euro finals, which will be staged in Greece in July.
