England Under-21s have defeated Scotland Under-21s 3-1 at the Riverside Stadium to climb to the top of the Group 4 standings in qualifying for Euro 2019.

The Young Lions earned their second win from three games this campaign thanks to goals from Joshua Onomah, Tammy Abraham and Dominic Solanke in the North-East.

Chris Cadden pulled one back for the visitors with the scoreline at 2-0, but England managed to get over the line with ease in the end to move above Ukraine to the summit after playing one game more.

Following a quiet start to the contest, Onomah chested the ball down from 25 yards out and fired home on the half-volley to give England lift-off.

Abraham found the post when glancing Dominic Calvert-Lewin's cross goalwards soon after, while Demarai Gray also came close as the home side stepped things up.

Motherwell midfielder Allan Campbell tested Angus Gunn for the first time on the half-hour mark, but it continued the be the Young Lions who saw more of the ball as Abraham nodded another cross wide.

Moments after Onomah squandered an opportunity of his own, John Souttar sent Abraham crashing to the ground to concede a penalty, which the on-loan Swansea City striker stepped up to convert.

Scotland gave themselves hope with 12 minutes remaining thanks to Cadden's tap-in after being picked out by full-back Ryan Williamson, but any hopes of a comeback soon diminished.

Onomah cut open the opposition defence with a through-ball just 63 seconds later for Abraham to latch on to, with the striker in turn teeing up teammate Solanke to round off the scoring from close range.

Joe Gomez did come close to adding a fourth for his side late on, but a fine stop kept the scoring down on a positive night for Aidy Boothroyd's men.