England under 19s made the perfect start to their European Championship qualifying campaign as they twice came from behind to beat Denmark 3-2 on Thursday night . Sean O'Driscoll 's Young Lions trailed twice , to goals from Marcus Ingvartsen and Robert Skov , but hit back through Izzy Brown , Demarai Gray and Ashley Smith-Brown to claim an important win . England are in an Elite Round mini-group with Denmark , Azerbaijan and France as they bid to reach the Under 19 European Championship finals in Greece in July . Manchester City 's Ashley Smith-Brown scored the winner as England 's under 19s beat Denmark . With only the group winners qualifying for the tournament , it was imperative England started with a positive result in Bayeux , northern France and they did in a topsy-turvy game that saw both sides finish with 10 men . Having scored 15 goals in three matches against Belgium , Luxembourg and Belarus to breeze through the preliminary qualifying phase , England knew this week 's fixture would represent a step up in quality . And they were rocked when Denmark took the lead just six minutes in - after the England defence failed to deal with a long throw-in , Ingvartsen was there to poke the ball home at the back post . England responded by seizing control of possession , but it was the half-hour mark before they equalised . Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek threaded a ball through to club-mate Brown and , brushing aside two Denmark defenders , he slotted the ball past goalkeeper Daniel Iversen . Brown came within inches of putting England in front soon after , but his powerful strike from 20 yards cannoned back off the crossbar . Izzy Brown , seen here playing for Chelsea in the FA Youth Cup , scored England 's first goal . And when Fulham star Patrick Roberts teed up Loftus-Cheek , his shot was cleared off the line by Stefan Gartenmann . Given their dominance , it was frustrating that Denmark took the lead again four minutes before half-time . After a well-worked move , Skov found space just outside the box and fired past goalkeeper Angus Gunn into the far corner . To their credit , England responded immediately and it was 2-2 at the pause . Roberts swung in a free-kick from the right and Gray , the Birmingham City player , flicked in at the near post . After the excitement of the opening 45 minutes , the game entered a lull after the break before exploding to life again in the decisive final 10 minutes . Man City defender Smith-Brown collected the ball wide right , cut inside and fired home a missile from 20 yards that crashed in off the underside of the bar . The game ended with England 's Harry Winks receiving a second yellow card and Denmark 's Jeppe Hansen also dismissed for a bad tackle on Charlie Colkett . England 's second qualifier is against Azerbaijan on Saturday . Sean O'Driscoll 's team now play Azerbaijan and France in their other European Championship qualifiers . England ( 4-3-3 ) : Angus Gunn ( Manchester City ) ; Ashley Smith-Brown ( Manchester City ) , Ben Chilwell ( Leicester City ) , Harry Winks ( Tottenham Hotspur ) , Brendan Galloway ( Everton ) ; Joe Gomez ( Charlton Athletic ) , Patrick Roberts ( Fulham ) , Ruben Loftus-Cheek ( Chelsea ) ; Izzy Brown ( C ; Chelsea ) , Charlie Colkett ( Chelsea ) , Demarai Gray ( Birmingham City ) . Substitution : Ola Aina ( Chelsea ) for Roberts 87 . Substitutes not used : Freddie Woodman ( Newcastle United ) , Lewis Cook ( Leeds United ) , Bradley Fewster ( Middlesbrough ) , Alex Kiwomya ( Chelsea ) , Aaron Kuhl ( Reading ) , Robert Dickie ( Reading ) Scorers : Brown 33 ; Gray 44 ; Smith-Brown 82 . Booked : Winks 58 . Sent off : Winks 87 . Head coach : Sean O ’ Driscoll . Denmark : Daniel Iversen , Magnus Pedersen , Stefan Gartenmann , Joachim Anderson ( C ) , Mads Pedersen , Jens Thomasen , Marcus Ingvartsen , Jannik Pohl , Jeppe Hansen , Robert Skov , Rezan CorlU . Substitution : Jonas Gemmer for Corlu 58 . Substitutes not used : Sebastian John , Marco Lund , Marcus Mathisen , Mikkel Duelund , Casper Olesen . Scorers : Ingvartsen 6 ; Skov 41 . Booked : Corlu 14 , Anderson 44 , Hansen 67 . Sent off : Jansen 83 . Head coach : Bent Christensen . Referee : Marco Guida ( ITA ) OTHER QUALIFYING RESULT . France 2 Azerbaijan 0 .
England achieved crucial win in first European Championship qualifier . They twice fell behind to Denmark but managed to win comfortably 3 - 2 . villa 's Brown , Birmingham 's goal and Man ##ley 's hat - Brown scored . Young Lions also defeated Azerbaijan and France in qualifying group . Group winners will reach finals in Greece in July .