Anthony Gordon and Harry Kane scored as England beat ten-man Czechia 2-0 to earn their first win since the FIFA World Cup and move second in UEFA Nations League A Group 3.

Gordon scored in his third successive England appearance, while Harry Kane struck in a second game on the spin in the second half, after Pavel Šulc’s early red card.

The Three Lions made the most of their advantage and restricted the Czechs to few opportunities, despite manager Thomas Tuchel’s three defensive changes.

The home side enjoyed a few early chances. First, Czech Player of the Year Šulc ran into James Trafford when clean through, before Lukáš Červ’s volley flew wide of the right post.

Morgan Rogers collected Gordon’s pull-back, spun, and crashed his effort off the post, with Elliot Anderson and Bukayo Saka unable to force the rebound beyond covering defenders. Then it was Gordon’s turn from a similar angle, but the Barcelona winger shot just wide.

The game swung dramatically in England’s favour when Šulc lunged into Anderson. An initial yellow card was swiftly upgraded to a red and Czechia were down to ten men.

Set loose down the left again, Gordon’s effort was too close to goalkeeper Matěj Kovář this time, but the winger kept causing right back Štěpán Chaloupek problems.

Kane forged his first chance just before the break, turning and firing from the edge of the box, but Kovář produced an excellent save with his right hand.

It only took a minute for England to unpick the ten men in the second half. Picking up a loose pass, Trent Alexander-Arnold delivered a delicious cross to Gordon, whose stooped header on the bounce was perfectly measured into the corner.

And Gordon kept running at the Czechia defence, finding Lewis Hall near the penalty spot, but his former teammate dragged his shot just wide.

The Three Lions were unfortunate not to double their advantage on the hour when Hall swept the ball in, only for Ladislav Krejčí to poke it against his own post.

Alexander-Arnold let fly from distance to no avail but England sealed the points soon after, through Kane.

The captain stepped onto a ball Rogers had poked loose in the penalty area, swiping a crisp low left-footed strike across Kovář for his 87th international goal.

Strong hands from Trafford kept the hosts out on a rare foray forward, before Rogers could only nod Gordon’s stand-up cross wide of the near post and Eberechi Eze's sharp effort was kept out by Kovář.

With time running out at the Fortuna Arena, Tuchel’s subs looked to make a difference. Morgan Gibbs-White looked lively and Alex Scott went close with a curling effort. 

Eze blazed over and Jude Bellingham’s low effort was thwarted as England had to settle for two goals.

Spain’s 4-1 victory over Croatia leaves England second in Group 3 and three points behind the world champions, while Czechia remain pointless.

England face Croatia next, at 5pm BST on Saturday.

Czechia: 1 Matěj Kovář; 6 Štěpán Chaloupek, 4 Robin Hranáč, 7 Ladislav Krejčí, 5 Jiří Sláma, 12 Lukáš Červ, 15 Pavel Šulc, 8 Michal Sadílek, 18 Matej Radosta, 10 Adam Hložek, 9 Adam Karabec 

Substitutes: 20 Ondřej Lingr for Karabec 45’, 13 Lukáš Ambros for Radosta 56’, 21 Alex Král for Sadílek 56’, 11 Daniel Vašulín for Hložek 80’, 19 Roman Macek for Červ 80’

Unused substitutes: 2 Ondřej Kričfaluši, 3 Ondřej Zmrzlý, 14 Martin Vitík, 16 Lukáš Horníček, 17 Pavel Bucha, 22 Michal Sáček, 23 Antonín Kinský   

Head coach: Santi Denia 

Red Cards: Pavel Šulc

England: 13 James Trafford (Leeds); 2 Trent Alexander-Arnold (Real Madrid), 12 Trevoh Chalobah (Como), 6 Marc Guehi (Manchester City), 3 Lewis Hall (Newcastle), 8 Elliot Anderson (Manchester City), 16 Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal), 17 Morgan Rogers (Chelsea), 7 Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), 9 Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), 11 Anthony Gordon (Barcelona)

Substitutes: 21 Eberechi Eze (Arsenal) for Lewis-Skelly 46’, 14 Rio Ngumoha (Liverpool) for Saka 71’, 10 Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid) for Kane 71’, 4 Alex Scott (Bournemouth) for Anderson 71’, 20 Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest) for Gordon 80’

Unused substitutes: 1 Jordan Pickford (Everton), 5 Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), 15 Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton), 18 James Garner (Everton), 19 Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Leeds), 22 Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen), 23 Jaston Steele (Brighton)

Head coach: Thomas Tuchel 

Goals: Anthony Gordon 47’, Harry Kane 69’

Yellow Cards: Myles Lewis-Skelly