England Under-21s boss Gareth Southgate has revealed his delight with his side's performance in their 1-0 victory over the Czech Republic.
Tom Carroll scored the only goal of the game in the 48th minute, but the Young Lions were forced to battle to secure the victory as the hosts threatened late in the match.
Southgate feels that the manner of his side's win will stand them in good stead for the European Under-21s Championship later this year.
He told the FA's official website: "It was a really big test and exactly what we wanted. We knew the Czech's were big, physical and good on counter attacks and crosses so we had to deal with a lot of that.
"I thought for 25 minutes we really controlled the game well and created a couple of half-decent chances. The second half of the first half went a bit scrappy and we didn't quite connect through midfield as we'd like.
"We had to defend our box a lot, although we could have made some better decisions in terms of our possession to try and relieve that pressure."
Southgate's men are next in action against Germany on Monday at the Riverside Stadium.
Simon Sinclair
