England U21 1-0 Sweden U21: Jesse Lingard strikes late for England

Jesse Lingard was the hero for England U21s as his 85th minute winner was enough for a 1-0 win over Sweden which kept their European Championship dream alive.

England came into the match knowing that only a win would realistically do after losing their opening Group B game to Portugal, but they struggled to break down a well organised Sweden side.

That was until five minutes from time when Manchester United man Lingard, who came on as a substitute for the injured Alex Pritchard, picked up a loose ball on the edge of the area and fired a dipping strike into the net.

Gareth Southgate’s men now face Italy on Wednesday where a win would guarantee their passage into the knockout stages.

The England boss made two changes to the team that was dispatched by Portugal with Pritchard and Will Hughes coming in for the eventual hero Lingard and James Ward-Prowse.

The pattern of the game was clear from the early stages with England dominating possession and Sweden sitting deep and hitting on the counter attack. 

It made for a very tactical encounter that played into the hands of the Swedes, who gave nothing away and kept a lid on the threat posed by Harry Kane and Nathan Redmond.

After struggling to create a clear opening for large parts of the first period, England created two in two minutes midway through the half.  

Kane managed to find space inside the area on 28 minutes after some very forceful work by Carl Jenkinson down the right flank but he could only head wide of the far post whilst on the stretch from just five yards out.

That seemed to spark the Young Lions into life and just seconds later Pritchard found Hughes inside the area with a crisp pass but the Derby man was denied by a deflection off a Swedish defender and the ball trickled wide of the post.

Danny Ings was introduced at half-time as Southgate looked to get more support into Kane, but it failed to trigger the desired effect as England continue to struggle with injecting pace into their play.

Jenkinson was their best source of imagination down the right with the Arsenal right back supplying a decent delivery into Kane but the ball just wouldn’t break for an England striker inside the area.

Ings should have won a penalty for his side with nine minutes remaining but the referee waved away appeals despite Joseph Bappo hacking him down from behind inside the area.

That decision could have proved a bigger moment than it turned out to be if Lingard hadn’t struck with five minutes remaining to save England’s bacon.

A corner was flapped at by Patrik Carlgren and the ball fell to Lingard on the edge of the box. The winger still had plenty to do from 18 yards but passed the test with flying colours, firing a sumptuous volley beyond the ‘keeper, who got a hand to the strike but couldn’t keep it out.

England live to fight another day but improvement is needed.