James Ward-Prowse driven on by past England Under-21s failures

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 18 June 2017

James Ward-Prowse insists that England Under-21s have plenty of incentive to win their remaining two Group A matches and make it through to the U21 Euro 2017 semi-finals.

England Under-21s skipper James Ward-Prowse has admitted that he is eager to 'put things right' at U21 Euro 2017 following a succession of disappointing tournament showings.

The Young Lions have won just one of their past 10 matches in the competition, spanning across the past three instalments, and require victory in their next outing to keep alive hope of progressing.

England have also finished bottom of their group in each of their past three campaigns but, following the goalless draw with Sweden in Friday afternoon's opener, Southampton midfielder Ward-Prowse is hopeful that his side can make it into the knockout stages on this occasion.

"This is a tournament where there is no grace," The Telegraph quotes him as saying. "You have to hit the ground running if you want to qualify by topping the group.

"We didn't play anywhere near as well as we can [against Sweden]. What was important is that we didn't lose and we are on the board. There's six or seven of us from the last time so we've all got those feelings and that hunger to get things right.

"We want to make sure that we're not having those same feelings again... it's not a nice feeling when you don't reach the level that you should do. The team and the way that we were playing two years ago... we should have gone on further. But that gives us all an incentive."

England take on Slovakia in their next Group A outing on Monday, sitting two points adrift of their opponents with only one side guaranteed of progressing through.