Edwards' magic moment steers England U17s through

After a rather uneventful contest, the Tottenham Hotspur youngster showed real quality with nine minutes remaining, turning past a defender after facing away from goal before striking a delicious shot from 20 yards into the top corner.

With Tom Davies still ruled out after picking up an injury against the Italians, Peacock suffered a further blow before kick-off as Trent Arnold was forced to sit out the action after a knock in training.

Four changes were made in total to the side that started against Holland. Nathan Holland, Daniel Wright, Ike Ugbo and Layton Ndukwu came in to replace Chrissy Willock, Stephy Mavididi, Tayo Edun and Arnold as the Young Lions reverted from a midfield diamond to line up in an attacking 4-2-3-1.

The contest had a lively opening, Edwards and Holland both going close from set-pieces inside 10 minutes. Ireland too could have taken the lead when Corey O'Keeffe whipped in a corner and found the head of a rising Joshua Barrett, but his effort went into the side-netting.

Ireland, knowing only a victory would do if they were to survive in the tournament, enjoyed the best of the first 20, although they failed to create any clear chances.

England were struggling to retain the ball at times, although they carved the first opening as Edwards fed Ndukwu down the left of the area. The Leicester forward’s strike across goal was deflected wide for a corner.

Layton Ndukwu battles with Marcus Agyei-Tabi

England looked to have lifted their game, and they had two chances within a minute to take the lead shortly before the 30-minute mark.

Skipper Reece Oxford first headed straight at the keeper with a free header form a corner before Ugbo was played clean through by Edwards, but he fired into the near post side-netting.

Holland was next to try his luck, his efforts only denied the goal they deserved by a brilliant one-handed save from Irish keeper Caoimhin Kelleher after he had cut in from the right across the 18-yard line.

In an attempt to find a breakthrough, Willock replaced Ndukwu for the Young Lions at the break, but it was goalkeeper Paul Woolston who came to the young Lions’ rescue first.

Anthony Scully shot from 20 yards out on the right, Woolston got down well to save to his right, but the ball fell to Corey O’Keeffe.

The Ireland winger attempted a dink from six yards, but the Newcastle shot-stopper got a strong hand to it to take the sting out of the ball that allowed his defence to clear before it bounced over the line.

Shortly after this scare, Woolston landed awkwardly on centre-half Danny Collinge. The Stuttgart defender attempted to play on, but he was forced off moments later after the collision and Easah Suliman entered the fray in his place.

The contest was turning into a scrappy affair, neither side keeping hold of the ball for any meaningful periods, although Willock did try his luck twice from distance but fired wide and at the keeper.

The game needed a moment of magic to liven it up, and that is exactly what Edwards provided with nine minutes remaining. He collected the ball on the edge of the area, turned on a sixpence before arrowing an unstoppable strike into the roof of the net.

England (4-2-3-1): 1 Paul Woolston (Newcastle); 2 James Yates (Everton), 5 Reece Oxford (captain; West Ham), 6 Danny Collinge (Stuttgart), 3 Jay Dasilva (Chelsea); 18 Herbie Kane (Liverpool), 8 Daniel Wright (Sunderland); 7 Nathan Holland (Everton), 10 Marcus Edwards (Tottenham), 17 Layton Ndukwu (Leicester); 9 Ike Ugbo (Chelsea)

Substitutes: 11 Chrissy Willock (Arsenal) for Ndukwu 41, 15 Easah Suliman (Aston Villa) for Collinge 49, 16 Stephy Mavididi (Arsenal) for Ugbo 72.

Goals: Edwards 71

Republic of Ireland (4-2-3-1): 1 Caoimhin Kelleher; 2 Corey O’Keeffe, 4 Conor Masterson (C), 5 Darragh Leahy, 15 Robert McCourt; 6 Marcus Agyei-Tabi, 8 Conor Levingston; 12 Luke Wade-Slater, 10 Connor Ronan, 3 Jonathan Lunney; 9 Joshua Barrett.

Substitutes not used: 16 David Craddock, 13 Jamie Gray, 14 Shane Hanney

Bookings: Levingston 37, O’Keeffe 54.

Head coach: Tom Mohan