Marcus Rashford fired in a 68th minute penalty to give England a 1-0 friendly victory over Romania at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium.
Jack Grealish won the penalty after Tiberiu Capusa fouled him with Rashford stepping up to fire calmly into the bottom right corner with his right foot.
Substitute, Jordan Henderson made his first appearance since 20 February but could only see his penalty saved after snatching the ball from Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who had won the penalty after a foul from Vlad Chiriches.
England went on to waste several chances like they did throughout the first half and much of the second half too, eventually clinging on for the win.
Gareth Southgate will now prepare his squad for their Euro 2020 opener against Croatia next Sunday (13 June), as he faces a dilemma over who will replace Trent Alexander-Arnold following his withdrawal on Thursday (3 June).
A sluggish start saw Tyrone Mings concede a second minute corner to Romania with Denis Alibec seeing a low cross cleared, with Razvan Marin then seeing his tenth minute shot from Camora’s pass blocked by Sam Johnstone as the visitors enjoyed a bright start.
England eventually forced their first opportunity a minute later with Luke Shaw playing a long diagonal ball to Jadon Sancho, who cut in from the right but could only fire over.
Romania’s Andrei Ivan saw a 16th minute header fly wide of the bottom left corner before Vlad Chiriches fouled Marcus Rashford eight minutes later in the box, only for referee, Tiago Martins to rule a goal kick instead of a penalty.
Constantin Paun then saw a half volley saved by Johnstone with Dominic Calvert-Lewin up the other end putting a header onto the bar just minutes later.
Sancho saw a 38th minute shot go begging just moments before a streaker briefly ran onto the pitch before being removed.
Deian Sorescu broke forward just before the half-time whistle to unleash a low shot but Johnstone blocked before Nicolae Stanciu fired the rebound over the bar as the first half finished goalless.
With Henderson coming on as a substitute for his first appearance since 20 February, England made the better start to the second half as Grealish won a penalty up the left flank with James Ward-Prowse’s free-kick flicked on goal by Ben Godfrey but saved.
Sorescu pounced on a defensive error from Marcus Rashford and saw a 53rd shot fired wide of the bottom left corner, with Luke Shaw going up the other end five minutes later only to be fouled.
Ward-Prowse swung in the resulting free-kick upon goal but Florin Nita was alert to make the save before Rashford fired wide in the 62nd minute.
Grealish eventually won the game-changing penalty as he burst up the left only to be fouled by Romanian substitute, Capusa, with Rashford calmly firing the resulting penalty into the bottom right corner.
Rashford soon afterwards saw a second shot go wide whilst Alexandru Cicaldau saw his 74th minute shot blocked by Ben White out to Ivan who fires upon goal from close range, only for Johnstone to deny him and put the ball behind.
Chiriches then fouled Grealish and accidentally stood on the Aston Villa midfielder’s head before then fouling Calvert-Lewin to concede a penalty.
Calvert-Lewin prepared to take the spot kick only for Henderson to snatch the ball out of his hands which backfired, as the Liverpool captain saw his shot saved by Nita who dived correctly to his right to block the penalty and Bellingham’s rebound effort.
Bellingham soon afterwards headed wide from fellow substitute, Ollie Watkins, who then fired Kieran Trippier’s left-swung corner wide of the near bottom right corner just moments later.
England eventually clung on for another narrow victory and will now prepare for their Euro 2020 opener against Croatia next Sunday, which could see players like Reece James, Mason Mount, Harry Kane and Phil Foden return after not being risked in this match.
Teams
England: Sam Johnstone, Ben Godfrey, Ben White, Tyrone Mings, Luke Shaw (Trippier 75′), Jack Grealish, Kalvin Phillips (J Henderson’ 46′), James Ward-Prowse (Rice 65′), Marcus Rashford (Lingard 75′), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Watkins 82′), Jadon Sancho (Bellingham 65′)
Subs: Kieran Trippier, Jordan Pickford (GK), Conor Coady, Jordan Henderson, Jesse Lingard, Ollie Watkins, Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane, Declan Rice, Aaron Ramsdale (GK), Dean Henderson (GK)
Romania: Florin Nita (GK), Deian Sorescu (Capusa 66′), Ionut Nedelcearu (Rus 84′), Vlad Chiriches, Camora, Nicolae Stanciu, Razvan Marin, Alexandru Cicaldau (Budescu 80′), Andrei Ivan, Denis Alibec (Hagi 66′), Adrian Paun (Baluta 80′)
Subs: Alexandru Baluta, Constantin Budescu, Tiberiu Capusa, Cristian Ganea, Ianis Hagi, Alexandru Maxim, Olimpiu Morutan, Darius Olaru, Adrian Rus, Andrei Vlad
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