England U21s 3 Germany U21s 1: England continue memorable run at Bramall Lane

Almost exactly two months to the day, it was the scene of England's stunning, joyous and emphatic 4-0 victory over Sweden in the 2022 Women's European Championships semi-final in front of 28,624 mostly enraptured supporters.

It has also served England's Young Lions well. The venue hosted arguably the country's finest hour at under-21 level in May 1984 when England under-21s beat Spain 2-0 in the second leg of the European U21 Championship final to clinch a 3-0 aggregate success.

Back in April 1977, S2 was also the venue where the late, great Laurie Cunningham became the first black player to represent England, scoring the winning goal in the under-21s' 1-0 win over Scotland.

The Auld Enemy were also the opposition when the under-21s called in at the Lane in August 2013 when the visitors were trounced 6-0.

Another traditional foe in Germany were the latest visitors to the red side of Sheffield.

If the hosts needed another omen, England's previous victory over their German under-21s counterparts on home soil arrived in Yorkshire, by virtue of a 3-2 success at Middlesbrough in March 2015.

Here was another with England finding their mojo after a forgettable first half hour or so. They went behind, but rallied nicely enough in front of a crowd of 10,735.

Local interest in the England starting line-up was negligible. Levi Colwill, Folarin Balogun and Jacob Ramsey had previously played for White Rose clubs on loan, but the stand-out name was a German one with Blades loanee Reda Khadra handed a start for the visitors.

In the event, the chance he will have been dreaming about passed him by just before the hour.

The United triumvirate of Rhian Brewster, Tommy Doyle and James McAtee had to cool their heels on the bench, with their introduction in the second half earning cheers from Unitedities present on a chilly night. Leeds United’s Charlie Cresswell and Huddersfield Town loanee Luke Mbete also entered the fray.

This friendly served as handy preparation for next summer's Euros between two sides who breezed through qualification, with England winning eight of their ten group matches and Germany going one better with nine victories.

On paper, it should have made for a fascinating contest, but the vast majority of first half was unquestionably dull between two programmed, robotic sides who cancelled themselves out in truth and lacked the wit or nerve to do something off the cuff.

It took an opener for Germany to suddenly make it interesting and shake England into life and energise the game. For that, we should have at least been grateful.

The goal came on 35 minutes. It did not reflect particularly well on Norwich right-back Max Aarons.

He vacated space to allow an ocean of room for German left-back Noah Katterbach, whose presentable cross was dispatched by Felix Nmecha, who saw his thumping header fly past James Trafford.

Raised in England and schooled at Manchester City, but born in Germany, it was a nice moment for the striker, younger brother of Lukas Nmecha, who had a loan spell at Middlesbrough.

Fortunately, England took the hint - a bit like the seniors did the previous night.

James Garner went close to an equaliser, heading an outswinging corner from Harvey Elliott and a leveller was not long in coming.

Neat approach play between two of the Premier League's most young talents in Ramsey and Anthony Gordon ended in the latter pulling the ball back for Balogun.

The striker had a fair bit to do, but turned sharply before seeing his fierce low shot fly off the inside of the post.

He had netted in his previous appearance at the Lane in April, albeit on a chastening night for loan club Boro. He might just remember this goal a bit more fondly.

Suddenly we had a game and after keeper Nick Pope's blooper at Wembley 24 hours earlier, Trafford had a horror moment when he was too tardy in possession. It should have been punished by Thielmann, but thankfully from an England perspective, it wasn't.

England made that moment pay early in the second half. Ramsey, who showed his prowess in an early loan at Doncaster Rovers, surged away and saw his shot deflected into the path of Gordon.

He found his street instincts to drop his shoulder and hoodwink Kilian Fischer and Conor Gallagher was waiting to tap the ball home.

Garner fired over and Balogun spurned a couple of good chance to add his second before Khadra spurned his big moment in front of the Kop after being played in with Aarons clearing in the nick of time.

Substitute Cole Palmer added a coolly taken third deep into stoppage-time.