Noni Madueke and Levi Colwill were both in the starting line-up for England as they took on Czechia in their first group game of the European Under-21 Championship, against a side they had beaten twice during qualifying for the tournament.

Colwill was on the left side of a back three and, like the rest of England’s defence, had a difficult start to the game as their attempts to play out from the back were met by a relentlessly aggressive high press from their opponents.

Madueke was at the other end of the pitch, on the right of a front three, and it was down that side England created much of the best openings during the early stages. That culminated in the Chelsea man coming mightily closes to breaking the deadlock, when he cut inside onto his left foot via a one-two with Morgan Gibbs-White and fired a shot across goal from just outside the box, but it struck the crossbar.

He went close again just before the half-hour mark, when the ball fell his way in the box at the end of a direct Jacob Ramsey run through the middle. Madueke did well to make space to get a shot away among a crowd of defenders, but was under heavy pressure and couldn’t keep his effort away from the goalkeeper.

England wouldn’t be denied for much longer, though, taking the lead just one minute into the second half, when Ramsey slotted home after a lovely one-two with Anthony Gordon.

England remained on top but were eager to find a second goal and had to remain patient. Madueke thought he had created it with 20 minutes left when his pinpoint cross was turned in by Gordon, but the celebrations were cut short by the referee’s whistle and the goal was ruled out as Gibbs-White had been too close to the Czechia free-kick when winning possession to start the move.

That was the winger’s last major involvement before making way in a trio of changes after Czechia had started to apply increased pressure, with Colwill and his fellow defenders having to dig deep during the closing stages, but they did so well before a tap in by Emile Smith Rowe with the last kick of the game ensured a winning start for the Young Lions in Romania.

England face Israel in their next match of the European Under-21 Championship, with kick-off at 5pm on Sunday 25 June.