The Young Lions took their perfect Group C record to Austria for a game against their nearest rivals for top spot. Eddie Nketiah netted a 27th minute opener with Ben Godfrey grabbing a second just after the restart. Barnsley’s Patrick Schmidt pulled one back on the hour, shortly before Josh was introduced to win his first Under-21 cap. Josh played the final 23 minutes as it finished 2-1 at the Keine Sorgen Arena. The win means England need just four points from their final three qualifiers to book their spot in Hungary and Slovenia next summer.

The action for our other two Under-21 internationals came in Group H last night. It was a night of contrasting fortunes with Mads Bech and Denmark grabbing an important three points on the road in Northern Ireland while Jaakko Oksanen and Finland saw their qualifying hopes end with defeat at home to Ukraine.

In Ballymena, Mads was an unused substitute as a late Andreas Skov Olsen penalty saw The Danes retain a three-point lead over Romania at the top of the group with victory. Meanwhile, Jaakko started in Helsinki, earning his tenth Under-21 cap, where a pair of first half goals from Yukhym Konoplya and Danylo Sikan saw Ukraine take the points to leapfrog The Finns into third.