Anthony Gordon, Harry Kane net to give Three Lions first Nations League win

Pavel Sulc's first-half red card helped England recover from a nervy start to register an Anthony Gordon-inspired 2-0 Nations League win over the Czech Republic in Prague.

Official response and confirmed impact

While the Three Lions toiled in the early stages and nearly fell behind twice to presentable chances wasted by Sulc, Barcelona winger Gordon, supported by former Newcastle team-mate Lewis Hall, was a threat throughout.

He came close to teeing up an opener while the two sides were still 11 vs 11, but saw Morgan Rogers curl his low cross against the far post on the turn.

Even once Sulc had been dismissed following a VAR review for a studs-up challenge on the shin of Elliot Anderson, it took a reshuffle from Thomas Tuchel and the half-time arrival of Eberechi Eze for many of his team-mates to catch up following a particularly nervous and passive opening period from the Three Lions.

As it happened | Teams | Stats | Nations League tables | Watch FREE PL highlights England latest news blog | Nations League scores & news | Tables But once they did, it was Gordon who took full advantage less than two minutes after the restart to stoop and turn Trent Alexander-Arnold's typically inviting cross home, netting for the third competitive game in a row.

Alexander-Arnold later revealed to ITV: "I spoke to Anthony at half-time and I said if I'm getting in the half spaces and putting them [crosses] in, make sure you get to the back post.

"You don't expect it to happen that quickly, but it did and it worked." Hall, too, nearly got his just desserts when his dangerous low delivery was turned onto his own post by Wolves defender Ladislav Krejci with Rogers sniffing.

Coincidentally it would be a mix of Rogers and a deflection off Krejci that would tee-up Harry Kane, who else, to sweep home a second with England's next attack to put the result beyond…