England booked their place in the semi-finals of the European Under-21 Championship with goals from Leroy Lita and Matt Derbyshire against Serbia.
Derbyshire ignores the chaos behind him after scoring
Lita bundled in Steven Taylor's header across goal from James Milner's free-kick after just five minutes.
But they failed to build on that until substitute Derbyshire controversially struck in the second-half, before Tom Huddlestone was sent off late on.
Serbia had two strong penalty shouts and Scott Carson denied Gojko Kacar.
And despite showing nine changes, Serbia, who had already qualified for the last four, dominated for large parts of a game overshadowed by racist chants in the first half.
Uefa officials were forced to make an impromptu anti-racism announcement when England defender Nedum Onuoha was targeted by Serbia fans.
"We will not tolerate your racist chants," the announcer said just before the half-hour mark. "Please stop or leave the stadium."
After a slow start Serbia were aggrieved when calls for a penalty, after Lita grappled with Kacar in the box, fell on deaf ears.
Carson, making a record 28th appearance at this level, saved a deflected shot from Stefan Babovic and Kacar headed over from a corner.
And they maintained the pressure when Ivelja was played in one-on-one with Carson, who saved well with his legs to preserve England's slim advantage.
They also had a shout for handball before England forced Aleksander Kesic into a sharp save, pushing Lita's overhead kick round the post.
Lita soon gave way for Derbyshire who teed up Kieran Richardson after a burst down the right flank, but the Manchester United man failed to get a telling touch in the six-yard box.
The pair soon combined again to secure the result, but it sparked ugly scenes.
Richardson picked out Derbyshire in an onside position, but only because Slobodan Rajkovic was down injured.
The Blackburn striker opted to play on and fired in a smart finish before being confronted by a melee of angry opponents.
Uefa will wait until the match delegate hands in his report before taking any action on incidents in Nijmegen, by which time England will be preparing for Wednesday's semi-final against hosts Holland.
But Tottenham midfielder Huddlestone will not be involved after being sent off for dissent in the final minute of a fractious end to the match.
Serbia, who almost scored a late consolation goal when Nikola Petkovic thundered a shot on to the woodwork from an acute angle and Predrag Pavlovic fired wide after Leighton Baines had cleared off the line, face Belgium in the last four.
England U21: Carson, Hoyte, Baines, Taylor, Reo-Coker (Huddlestone 87), Richardson (Routledge 82), Nugent, Milner, Lita (Derbyshire 69), Noble, Onuoha.
Subs Not Used: Hart, Alnwick, Ferdinand, Cahill, Rosenior, Vaughan, Whittingham.
Sent Off: Huddlestone (90).
Goals: Lita 5, Derbyshire 76.
Serbia U21: Kesic, Rnic, Kacar, Drincic, Babovic (Rakic 47), Pavlovic, Ivelja, Basta, Rajkovic (Ivanovic 82), Zoran Tosic (Kolarov 67), Petkovic.
Subs Not Used: Kahriman, Rukavina, Smiljanic, Jankovic, Milovanovic, Dusko Tosic, Mrdja.
Booked: Zoran Tosic, Kacar.
Ref: Kircher Knut (Germany).