England under 19s made the perfect start to their European Championship qualifying campaign as they twice came from behind to beat Denmark 3-2 on Thursday night. Sean O'Driscoll's Young Lions trailed twice, to goals from Marcus Ingvartsen and Robert Skov, but hit back through Izzy Brown, Demarai Gray and Ashley Smith-Brown to claim an important win. England are in an Elite Round mini-group with Denmark, Azerbaijan and France as they bid to reach the Under 19 European Championship finals in Greece in July. Manchester City's Ashley Smith-Brown scored the winner as England's under 19s beat Denmark . With only the group winners qualifying for the tournament, it was imperative England started with a positive result in Bayeux, northern France and they did in a topsy-turvy game that saw both sides finish with 10 men. Having scored 15 goals in three matches against Belgium, Luxembourg and Belarus to breeze through the preliminary qualifying phase, England knew this week's fixture would represent a step up in quality. And they were rocked when Denmark took the lead just six minutes in - after the England defence failed to deal with a long throw-in, Ingvartsen was there to poke the ball home at the back post. England responded by seizing control of possession, but it was the half-hour mark before they equalised. Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek threaded a ball through to club-mate Brown and, brushing aside two Denmark defenders, he slotted the ball past goalkeeper Daniel Iversen. Brown came within inches of putting England in front soon after, but his powerful strike from 20 yards cannoned back off the crossbar. Izzy Brown, seen here playing for Chelsea in the FA Youth Cup, scored England's first goal . And when Fulham star Patrick Roberts teed up Loftus-Cheek, his shot was cleared off the line by Stefan Gartenmann. Given their dominance, it was frustrating that Denmark took the lead again four minutes before half-time. After a well-worked move, Skov found space just outside the box and fired past goalkeeper Angus Gunn into the far corner. To their credit, England responded immediately and it was 2-2 at the pause. Roberts swung in a free-kick from the right and Gray, the Birmingham City player, flicked in at the near post. After the excitement of the opening 45 minutes, the game entered a lull after the break before exploding to life again in the decisive final 10 minutes. Man City defender Smith-Brown collected the ball wide right, cut inside and fired home a missile from 20 yards that crashed in off the underside of the bar. The game ended with England's Harry Winks receiving a second yellow card and Denmark's Jeppe Hansen also dismissed for a bad tackle on Charlie Colkett. England's second qualifier is against Azerbaijan on Saturday. Sean O'Driscoll's team now play Azerbaijan and France in their other European Championship qualifiers . England (4-3-3): Angus Gunn (Manchester City); Ashley Smith-Brown (Manchester City), Ben Chilwell (Leicester City), Harry Winks (Tottenham Hotspur), Brendan Galloway (Everton); Joe Gomez (Charlton Athletic), Patrick Roberts (Fulham), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea);Izzy Brown (C; Chelsea), Charlie Colkett (Chelsea), Demarai Gray (Birmingham City). Substitution: Ola Aina (Chelsea) for Roberts 87 . Substitutes not used: Freddie Woodman (Newcastle United), Lewis Cook (Leeds United), Bradley Fewster (Middlesbrough), Alex Kiwomya (Chelsea), Aaron Kuhl (Reading), Robert Dickie (Reading) Scorers: Brown 33; Gray 44; Smith-Brown 82 . Booked: Winks 58 . Sent off: Winks 87 . Head coach: Sean O’Driscoll . Denmark: Daniel Iversen, Magnus Pedersen, Stefan Gartenmann, Joachim Anderson (C), Mads Pedersen, Jens Thomasen, Marcus Ingvartsen, Jannik Pohl, Jeppe Hansen, Robert Skov, Rezan CorlU . Substitution: Jonas Gemmer for Corlu 58 . Substitutes not used: Sebastian John, Marco Lund, Marcus Mathisen, Mikkel Duelund, Casper Olesen . Scorers: Ingvartsen 6; Skov 41 . Booked: Corlu 14, Anderson 44, Hansen 67 . Sent off: Jansen 83 . Head coach: Bent Christensen . Referee: Marco Guida (ITA) OTHER QUALIFYING RESULT . France 2 Azerbaijan 0 .
England claimed crucial win in first European Championship qualifier . They twice fell behind to Denmark but rallied to win match 3-2 . Chelsea's Brown, Birmingham's Gray and Man City's Smith-Brown scored . Young Lions also face Azerbaijan and France in qualifying group . Group winners will reach finals in Greece in July .