Substitutes Marcus Edwards and Ben Brereton combined for England’s decisive goal against Netherlands, but U19s head coach Keith Downing refused to take any credit for his timely changes.
The Young Lions were on top for much of the contest with the Netherlands, but only made the breakthrough five minutes from time when Edwards burst into the box and pulled the ball back for Ryan Sessegnon, whose shot deflected into the path of Brereton to tap-in from four yards’.
Downing said: “It’s an 18-man squad. We are very aware that everybody has to make a contribution, whether they are starting the game or finishing.
“It was pleasing that the two subs created and scored, but credit to the whole starting XI that I thought played well.
“Defensively we were strong and we opened the Dutch up with a few chances and their goalkeeper played really well, making good saves to keep them in it.
“We’re very pleased to have won the opening two matches. We knew this would be an extremely difficult group.
“Credit to the Netherlands, they made the game very tight. I felt we deserved to win. We dominated most of the game and, ironically, when Netherlands were getting on top we scored.”
Victory moved England on to six points, following Monday’s 2-0 defeat of Bulgaria.
A draw in the final game with Germany will assure the Young Lions of a place in the last four and Downing was buoyed by the belief his team looked stronger against Netherlands than they had on matchday one.
He added: “We had a bit more rhythm to our game today. We passed the ball better than we did in game one.
“The conditions in game one didn’t help us, it was extremely hot. Today was perfect to play football and we capitalised on that.
“We are gaining some momentum, we played well with the ball and opened them up a couple of times to create some chances. And we restricted them to just a couple of shots.
"I have total respect for Germany and Holland. They produce some great players and teams. Being drawn in this group we felt was going to be difficult and it is proving to be.
“But this is what it’s all about, European Championship football and hopefully the Georgian people are enjoying it.”
