Stuart Pearce, the England U21 coach, insisted the home loss to Greece on Wednesday should not be seen as the end of his side's hopes of qualifying for next summer's European Championship.

The 2-1 defeat at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium on Wednesday evening  left the young Three Lions five points behind Greece with just two games to come.

Those matches are a tricky trip to Portugal and a home tie against Lithuania.

From outside the camp it looks as if finishing second in the group, to secure a place in the qualifying play-offs, is the best case scenario.

"Most of these boys haven't let me down. They've certainly got a lot of talent so we have to keep believing. For the next two qualifiers we'll have 10 days together so we know what's in front of us and we've got a good spirit about us,” said Pearce.

"Seventeen points gets you through as runner-up, that's been historically the case. It's either win both games or that's our lot.

"We've had a good run in the competition, and we can and we will play a lot better than that."