A late Jesse Lingard strike has given England Under-21s a 1-0 win against Sweden Under-21s in their Euro 2015 Group B clash at the Andruv Stadion in Olomouc.
Following a lively but largely uneventful start, Sweden were almost caught out when Will Hughes slid a ball through to Nathan Redmond in the 17th minute, but Patrik Carlgren was quick off his line to boot clear.
Both sides then began pushing forward and a flurry of chances followed, as Simon Tibbling weighed in with two efforts while Redmond and Harry Kane threatened at the other end, the latter a dangerous diving header that flew just wide.
Tom Carroll was next to try his luck with a 20-yard lob just after the half-hour mark, but this failed to trouble Carlgren, while Kane fired a tame free kick into the arms of the Swedish stopper in the 42nd minute.
Sweden had the last say before the break, Isaac Kiese Thelin heading straight at Jack Butland from an unmarked position eight yards out, but neither side could break the deadlock before the interval.
There was little in the way of action after the restart, the first chance of note in the second half coming in the 66th minute when Kane and Lingard linked up to set up Carl Jenkinson, who fired into the side netting from six yards out.
Sweden picked themselves up following the near-miss and nearly forced an own goal from England when an Ludwig Augustinsson corner was close to being turned into the Three Lions net by Ben Gibson, but luckily for him it went wide.
The referee then turned down penalty appeals from both sides as Thelin and Danny Ings appeared to be felled in the respective opposition boxes, but nothing was given in either case.
Just when it seemed like the game would fizzle out and end as a stalemate, an England corner in the 85th minute was cleared to Lingard, who smashed a powerful shot from the edge of the area into the back of the net to give Gareth Southgate's charges the lead.
The Three Lions had to repel a number of dangerous Sweden forays in the latter stages of the game, but were ultimately able to celebrate a precious win that sees their tournament hopes revived.
