Substitutes Bobby Duncan and Jack Nolan kept England Under 17s’ winning streak running as they saw off Germany 2-1 in Rotherham.
Fabrice Hartmann had cancelled out Duncan’s goal for the Young Lions nine minutes from time, but Reading winger Nolan poked home the winner four minutes later.
Both sides gave their oppositions moments to worry about in an entertaining but goalless first half, with Rayhaan Tulloch the leading man for the England.
Curtis Jones laid on the first chance for the West Brom forward, but Germany keeper Daniel Klein came off his line well to dispossess Tulloch before skipper Thomas Doyle put the loose ball wide.
Doyle tested Klein again just a minute later with an audacious free kick from way out on the England left, forcing the keeper to scramble and push the ball over the bar.
Tulloch’s impressive performance continued as he bypassed two German defenders en-route to goal soon after, but some bold defending from the visitors kept things level.
Germany rallied in the last ten minutes of the half and twice went close through left-back Noah Katterbach. The defender skimmed the bar with a long-range effort from the left wing before blasting wide Ole Pohlmann’s unselfish layoff with two minutes of the first 45 to play.
The second half began much more scrappily than the open, end-to-end affair enjoyed by a crowd of 7,754 at Rotherham United’s New York Stadium.
And it was England’s match-winner from last week’s 3-2 comeback win over Portugal, Duncan, who was on hand to kickstart the game back into life.
The Manchester City teenager, introduced as a substitute after Jones picked up a knock midway through the first half, received James Garner’s pass inside the box and fired confidently past Klein, with the ball perhaps glancing off a German defender on its way into the bottom corner.
The forward put in another five minutes later from Mason Greenwood’s pass, but this time his celebrations were halted by the lineman’s offside flag.
That decision might have proven costly for the Young Lions as German substitute Hartmann equalised on 71 minutes, beating Arthur Okonkwo from close range after the Arsenal keeper had done well to keep out a deflected long-range effort.
But England fired back with the decisive goal four minutes later, with Nolan slotting home Greenwood’s perfectly-placed square ball into the six-yard box to seal the win.
England: 13 Arthur Okonkwo (Arsenal); 2 Vontae Daley-Campbell (Arsenal), 15 Ethan Laird (Manchester United), 6 Luis Binks (Tottenham Hotspur), 3 Louie Sibley (Derby County); 4 Thomas Doyle (Manchester City), 8 James Garner (Manchester United); 11 Curtis Jones (Liverpool), 10 Mason Greenwood (Manchester City), 7 Arvin Appiah (Nottingham Forest); 9 Rayhaan Tulloch (West Bromwich Albion)
Substitutes: 14 Bobby Duncan (Manchester City) for Jones 23, 17 Jack Nolan (Reading) for Tulloch 48, 19 Taylor Perry (Wolverhampton Wanderers) for Appiah 76
Substitutes not used: 1 Harry Seaden (Southend United), 5 Max Broughton (Bolton Wanderers), 12 Luis Longstaff (Liverpool), 16 Elijah Dixon-Bonner (Liverpool), 18 Tareq Shihab (Brighton & Hove Albion), 20 Clinton Mola (Chelsea)
Goals: Duncan 61, Nolan 75
Cautions: none
Head coach: Steve Cooper
