England survived for an hour with ten men to open their European U21 Championship campaign with an unconvincing 2-1 win over Finland. Stuart Pearce's team had the ideal start with Lee Cattermole putting the Three Lions ahead courtesy of deflection off Jukka Raitala.

But Finland equalised from the spot through Tim Sparv after Michael Mancienne brought down Berat Sadek and was shown a straight red.

Against the run of play a Micah Richards header from a rare England corner after the break sealed victory, although Finland went close to equalising.

The England coach was honest is his assessment of the game.

"I think we showed courage," said Pearce. "Did we play well enough to trouble the tournament? No. But they have lots of character and we have to couple that with our ability."