England twice came from behind to beat a talented Germany side at the Riverside.
The match was witnessed by an impressive 30,178 crowd who saw several impressive goals and some fine technical football in an intriguing if, at times, scrappy encounter.
As expected hometown hero, Boro defender Ben Gibson, was named in Gareth Southgate’s starting XI.
He partnered highly-rated Everton defender John Stones in the heart of the England back four.
Further forward, Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse and Will Hughes of Derby played in central midfield while Burnley striker Danny Ings led the line up front.
England lined up in a 4-1-4-1 formation while Germany rotated between a nominal 2-4-4 when in possession and 4-3-3 when the hosts had the ball.
Prior to kick-off, the Riverside crowd respectfully applauded the German national anthem and then sportingly applauded afterwards.
For most of the opening quarter of an hour there was little in the way of entertaining football to savour with the visitors looking more comfortable in possession.
Then, in the 15th minute, Germany took the lead.
Christian Gunter was the provider, whipping in a low cross from the left to Philipp Hofmann waiting on the edge of the box and the strapping Kaiserslautern striker killed the ball with one touch before turning brilliantly and lashing a well-placed shot into the corner of Jonathan Bond’s net.
The Germans weren’t averse to the occasional piece of professionalism and Moritz Leitner was booked in the 20th minute for pulling back Ward-Prowse to nip an England attack in the bud.
Seconds later, the home team created their first opening of note when Nathan Redmond crossed to the far post from the left side of the penalty area but Jesse Lingard’s angled shot was pushed behind by the keeper.
England broke at pace in the England broke at pace in the 33rd minute when Redmond drove forward from inside his own half before feeding Ings who charged towards the penalty area and then fired in a low shot that Marc-Andre ter Stegen did well to push away at full-stretch.
Ward-Prowse took the resulting corner, floating the ball into the middle where Gibson headed at goal but the keeper blocked the effort and Lingard failed to convert the rebound, scuffing his shot from close-range.
The Derby player made no mistake in the 35th minute, however, when he scored the equaliser.
Carl Jenkinson did superbly well to dribble into box down the right before stroking a low right-cross to Lingard, who sit a fine first-time shot that gave the keeper no chance.
Germany went close to retaking the lead in the 37th minute when Leitner curled a stunning free-kick over the defensive wall from the edge of the penalty area but Bond made a spectacular save, diving to his left to palm the ball away.
Five minutes into the second half, German went 2-1 ahead when Hofmann doubled his tally by bundling the ball over the line from close-range after England failed to deal with sub Serge Gnabry’s ball into the box from the right.
Ings was proving a handful for the German defenders and he created an opening for himself in the 52nd minute but blasted his shot over the bar from 20 yards out.
The usual raft of second half substitutions didn’t help the flow of the game, though there was the occasional outbreak of exciting football.
Gnabry forced a save out of Bond in the 71st minute and, soon after, Nathan Redmond tried his luck from distance but to no avail.
Aitor Karanka will have been relieved to see Gibson, who was replaced by Michael Keane in the 77th minute, come through the match without picking up an injury.
And the crowd were relieved to see England equalise in the 80th minute through Redmond, whose shot from inside the box took a deflection on its way into the net.
Relief turned to elation two minutes later when man-of-the-match Jenkinson played a neat pass to Ward-Prowse and skipper ruthlessly past ter Stegen to put the hosts ahead for the first time.
In the 90th minute, Ings missed a great chance to make it 4-2 but belted his shot straight at the prostrate keeper from point-blank range.
No matter, because England held on to their lead and complete a win-double from their friendlies against Euro 2015 hosts the Czech Republic and tournament favourites Germany.
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