Chelsea’s Dominic Solanke struck the decisive goal as England beat hosts Czech Republic in the first of three crucial Under-17 European Championship qualifiers over the next five days.

The winning moment came after 53 minutes in Uherske Hradiste as Solanke found himself in the right place at the right time to tap in the rebound when his Chelsea teammate Isaiah Brown shot against the inside of the post.

It was a hard-fought win for John Peacock’s team but it puts England in a strong position with other Elite Round qualifiers to come against Albania on Friday and Italy on Monday.

The Czechs had much the better of the opening stages and were incisive on the counter-attack, notably when Brown surrendered possession on the half-way line and the ball was moved quickly to Jiri Klima to shoot wide.

Then, Ajax striker Vaclav Cerny tried to emulate Wayne Rooney’s spectacular goal from the weekend as he tried his luck from just inside the England half. The effort had a perfect trajectory and looked to be sailing in until England goalkeeper Freddie Woodman recovered his position and knocked it over.

Gradually, England gained a foothold and Solanke teed up Newcastle forward Adam Armstrong to test keeper David Zalesky with a venomous edge-of-the-box hit.

England performed better after half-time, seeing more of the ball, and gained their reward through Solanke’s close-range finish. Brown had been unfortunate, having initiated the move by robbing defender David Stepanek of the ball on the edge of the area.

As the Young Lions pushed for a killer second, Manchester United man Demetri Mitchell, on for Josh Sims, was fractionally wide with a powerful drive after running at the Czech defence.

England refused to sit back and defend their lead and Armstrong found the side-netting when slotted through by Solanke with eight minutes left.

There was some late Czech pressure to withstand but England rose to the challenge and held out to claim a slender, but critical, opening win and take a small step towards the finals in Malta this summer.

Meanwhile, Neil Dewsnip has named his Under-18 squad for the forthcoming friendly with Germany at Rotherham United’s New York Stadium on April 16.

The Young Lions have played six matches against Croatia, Belgium and Hungary behind closed doors at St George’s Park this season and will round off their campaign with a touch test against the Germans.

The squad is:

Goalkeepers Callum Burton (Shrewsbury Town), Ted Smith (Southend United).

Defenders Ben Chilwell (Leicester City), Robert Dickie (Reading), Brendan Galloway (MK Dons), Ashley Smith-Brown (Manchester City), Jack Whatmough (Portsmouth).

Midfielders Dele Alli (MK Dons), Reece Brown (Birmingham City), Alex Gilliead (Newcastle United), Bryn Morris (Middlesbrough), Harry Winks (Tottenham Hotspur).

Forwards Brandon Barker (Manchester City), Bradley Fewster (Middlesbrough), Ryan Kent (Liverpool), Nathan Oduwa (Tottenham Hotspur), Dean Rittenberg (Blackburn Rovers).

—Daily Mail