Aidy Boothroyd says Friday’s victory over Scotland not only provides short-term joy but will also prove an important result in the long-term of qualifying.
The Young Lions’ 3-1 win means they retain their place on top of the qualifying group going into next week’s game with Andorra.
And after Scotland beat the Netherlands last month, Boothroyd believes this result can provide England with plenty of impetus for the rest of the campaign.
“It was really important because the game against the Dutch, where Scotland beat them 2-0, kept it all a bit too congested, so this puts a little bit of distance between us and the Scots and the Dutch,” he explained.
“But it was as tough as I expected it to be. We could have played better – particularly in the second half – but overall I’m really pleased with the result and we have to see if we can build on the result in Andorra.
“It was a massive banana skin and I thought Scotland would cause us big problems, and they did but thankfully we managed to deal with them.
“We’re disappointed to concede but I guess it depends how you look at it.”
England got their evening underway in fine style when Josh Onomah struck a spectacular opening goal, which brought the Riverside Stadium to their feet.
And the head coach believes Onomah’s goalscoring is becoming a new addition to his game, almost a year on since his last for the U21s.
“He’s one of those players that you’re never quite sure what his best position is, is he a number ten or a number eight who breaks from midfield?” queried Boothroyd.
“But he has started scoring goals. He didn’t score many for Tottenham but he seems to score for us, all the teams I’ve had him in – U19s, U20s and U21s.
“If you and I tried it 100 times it wouldn’t go in at all, but he’s talented enough he’ll hit half of them.
“It’s one of them that it hits a steward or it goes in the top corner. Luckily it went in.”
The result came 24 hours on from the Young Lions squad watching their senior counterparts secure a place in next summer’s World Cup.
A number of the current U21s squad already know the feeling to taste World Cup success, having lifted the U20 edition earlier this year and Boothroyd wouldn’t rule out any of his players making the step up to Gareth Southgate's group if they can catch the eye.
“You can never say never,” he added. “Harry [Winks] is an example of that and Nathan Redmond went up last year, Nathaniel Chalobah this year and James Ward-Prowse last year.
“It was a great result, we’re all really pleased and it gave us a real boost going into the game. We’re going to a World Cup and so many big nations won’t or might not get there.
“As supporters and working for The FA we’re delighted Gareth and his team could get us over the line.”
