England retained their place at top of Group D in the U17 European Championships with a 1-1 draw against the Netherlands in a rematch of last years final.
A wonderful Marcus Edwards run was followed up by a great swinging cross from Edun to give England the lead as Netherlands captain, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, put the ball in his own net.
The Jong Orange got a second half equaliser having settled into the game better than the first. A controversial penalty was awarded as Arnold looked to pull out of a challenge on De Wit but Boultam slammed it home nevertheless.
Modestly celebrating his 100th UEFA game, John Peacock started his England side with a very high defensive line and within a minute the Jong Orange had given the ball back to their goalkeeper twice.
Maarten Steklenberg's Holland side had the first half chance of the game with a 4th minute corner after settling into game as the better side.
England showed their intentions early, though. Powering forward from the corner they couldn't create anything but demonstrated the ambition to counter attack.
In contrast, the Dutch looked to control possession. Chris Willock used his great pace to speed through the Orange defence which despite having the towering figure of Timothy Fosu-Mensah looked shaky at best. Willock shook off his first marker before using his strength to get rid of the challenge from Fosu-Mensah, his shot was weaker than his run though and Bijlow saved comfortably.
With Italy winning earlier on Sunday, England knew they had to avoid a loss to stay top of the group for sure. The Young Lions looked by far the more dangerous team, Mavididi pulled wide to get on the end of a nice ball from Marcus Edwards. An early touch took the chance to an even wider position and Mavididi could only hit Bijlow in goal.
Edwards was again the provider and went on another brilliant, blazing run to see the ball in the back of the net. Capitalising on poor positioning from the Netherlands defence, Edwards stormed through the middle and held off a challenger for the ball with great strength before offloading to an overlapping Adetayo Edun. He swung a great cross away from the keeper and into the onrunning Mavididi.
Labeled as one of the stars of the tournament, Fosu-Mensah was expected to hold solid for the Netherlands but instead of Mavididi putting the ball in the net it was Manchester United's Fosu-Mensah who knocked it past his own keeper in attempts to get it away from the player running in behind him.
Mavididi showed his excellent movement again. Pulling himself back onside he was fed the ball in huge amounts of space but delayed on the ball and his shot was saved easily.
With no apparent injury, Steklenberg brought off Troupee at the 25th minute mark to change the Dutch system to a three man defence. Malen was his replacement.
Dilrosun did well to get a ball past Yates but the Orange's 1.93m forward, Jay-Roy Grot, couldn't reach it.
Marcus Edwards continued to be the pesky, buzzing bee to the Netherlands as he dribbled in and out of the pitch. As one floodlight went out, Edwards remained the bright light in the game.
The second half was a shadow of the first due to the Netherlands settling into the game far better.
Grot was left unmarked and headed the ball back across goal for De Wit but with a golden chance to level things up, he couldn't reach the ball with an outstretched foot.
Just moments later a dominant England were forced to go on the attack again as the Netherlands equalised through a very controversial penalty.
Arnold stepped out of a challenge before he could knock over the oncoming player in orange just inside the area but De Wit went down anyway and with a very restricted view, the referee awarded the penalty straight away. Boultam needed no encouraging to leather the ball past Woolston to see England down a goal for the first time in the tournament.
Grot almost instantaneously took the Netherlands in front with a stinging drive at Woolston but the 16-year-old parried it away well.
After winning the game against Italy as a substitute, Edwards impressed from the start this time - playing a key part in the first goal for England. Yet he came off with twenty minutes to go Ndukwu who was England's top scorer in the qualifying round, joining Ugbo in attack who came on for Mavididi after Boultam's goal.
Ndukwu sent in a delicious balll for Ugbo but he looped the ball from his head and the keeper caught easily in a rare, wasted, chance for England.
Wright, on as a sub, had a shot denied by Bijlow with three minutes left as cramp came in for many of the players.
England remain top of Group D with four points, but are now just one above Italy who beat Ireland 2-0 earlier on Sunday.