England coach Noel Blake was left frustrated after a 1-1 draw with Croatia in their opening U19 Euros clash.

The Young Lions were forced to come from behind against Croatia, but then ended the game strongly and in the ascendancy before they could find a winning goal.

"I suppose when you come from behind you've got to be reasonably satisfied but overall I thought in the first half, Croatia had the better opportunities to have scored and maybe one or two more," Blake told theFA.com.

"It was our first game, after a break, and it's still pre-season for the players so they will get stronger as we go along and in the first game after a break, it often takes a little while to get going.

"But I thought in the second half there was only one team going to win the game and that was us. I was really pleased with our second half performance. We scored a terrific goal, crashed one against the bar and their 'keeper has made two good saves from Afobe.

"So in terms of the chances, you could argue they had the better in the first half and we had the better in the second half.

"But I thought in the way we played in the second half, our passing was really good and as the game wore on we got better and better. We were stronger with the ball and in our passing movements.

"It's a tournament though and the key is not to lose your first game. We're still in the tournament with two games to go so we'll see where that takes us.

"Their 'keeper has made some good saves, and so has ours and that's what they get paid to do! But I was very pleased with our goalkeeper and both of them were on top of their game."

Chelsea defender Nathan Chalobah struck for England.