England Under-21s boss Aidy Boothroyd has revealed how Dominic Solanke played through the pain barrier as the Young Lions ran out 2-1 winners over Ukraine.
The Liverpool striker scored an 88th-minute winner in Tuesday night's Euro 2019 qualifier at Bramall Lane, not long after Mykola Shaparenko equalised for the visitors.
Victory kept England five points clear at the top of Group 4 and Boothroyd admitted that substitute Solanke, who missed Saturday's friendly win over Romania, was nearly sidelined again.
"Solanke had an infection in his toe," Boothroyd told Sky Sports News. "It was one of those injuries where you can't get your boot on and we left it as late as possible.
"He was in a certain amount of pain. There's pain and pain and every player is different but he wants to play all the time.
"It was just right to give him that little bit of extra time. We waited to see how he was in the warm-up and the plan was to get him on. It was an injury where a couple of days of antibiotics gets you right."
England host second-placed Netherlands in September with four games left in the race to reach Italy and San Marino next year.
Giuseppe Labellarte
Spain U21s
