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England came through a bruising encounter against Greece to win 3-2 and go top of the round-robin group at the European Blind Football Championships in Manchester.
Tony Larkin's side now lead France by a point and Spain by two points although the Spanish, who face England on Thursday, have played one game fewer.
England took a fifth-minute lead against the Greeks with captain Darren Harris slotting home a penalty after the Greek keeper was penalised for coming out of his area.
Greece looked much stronger than in their opening defeat to Spain and five minutes later they levelled when wing-back Ioannis Petsas cut inside two defenders and drove the ball into Jon Pugh's bottom left hand corner.
Greece were denied what seemed to be a clear penalty after 21 minutes and they fell behind again when England's star striker Dave Clarke chipped the keeper after good work by Darren Cooke.
England suffered a blow when Lee Greatbatch had to be permanently substituted 13 minutes into the second half after committing five fouls.
We have got some good individual players but we stuck together and showed great spirit
England coach Tony Larkin
But Clarke made the win safe two minutes from time with a penalty - his sixth goal of the tournament - to put him on top of the scoring charts
The Greeks pulled a goal back late on through an eight-metre penalty by Dimitrios Amatzis but it was not enough to dampen England's spirits.
In the day's other game France beat Italy 3-0 but their victory was overshadowed by the lodging of a formal complaint against wing-back Frederich Villeraux.
Villeraux, who scored against England on Sunday, was accused of lifting up the blindfold which all players are required to wear and using his limited sight to gain an advantage.
The organisers' response was to force France players to wear bigger blindfolds.
Tony Larkin's side now lead France by a point and Spain by two points although the Spanish, who face England on Thursday, have played one game fewer.
England took a fifth-minute lead against the Greeks with captain Darren Harris slotting home a penalty after the Greek keeper was penalised for coming out of his area.
Greece looked much stronger than in their opening defeat to Spain and five minutes later they levelled when wing-back Ioannis Petsas cut inside two defenders and drove the ball into Jon Pugh's bottom left hand corner.
Greece were denied what seemed to be a clear penalty after 21 minutes and they fell behind again when England's star striker Dave Clarke chipped the keeper after good work by Darren Cooke.
England suffered a blow when Lee Greatbatch had to be permanently substituted 13 minutes into the second half after committing five fouls.
We have got some good individual players but we stuck together and showed great spirit
England coach Tony Larkin
But Clarke made the win safe two minutes from time with a penalty - his sixth goal of the tournament - to put him on top of the scoring charts
The Greeks pulled a goal back late on through an eight-metre penalty by Dimitrios Amatzis but it was not enough to dampen England's spirits.
In the day's other game France beat Italy 3-0 but their victory was overshadowed by the lodging of a formal complaint against wing-back Frederich Villeraux.
Villeraux, who scored against England on Sunday, was accused of lifting up the blindfold which all players are required to wear and using his limited sight to gain an advantage.
The organisers' response was to force France players to wear bigger blindfolds.
