Luke Garbutt heads into the UEFA European Under-21s Championship in good spirits following a man-of-the-match display against Belarus.
The Everton left-back was unfortunate not to score twice in Thursday's tournament send-off game in Barnsley, with Belarusian keeper Uladzislau Vasiliuchak keeping him out in the second half.
But with seven minutes left, it was Garbutt’s wicked, low free-kick which was only parried into the path of Ben Gibson to net England’s winner.
Luke Garbutt was man-of-the-match against Belarus
“We gradually ground them down and eventually got the goal we deserved,” reflected Garbutt, who looked both solid in defence and dangerous in support of the attack.
“The first chance was on my right-foot, but I connected with it well and the keeper made a good save.
“I was obviously pleased with my personal performance and in the end we got the win, but they gave us a tricky time. We had a lot of the ball and a lot of chances but it just didn’t seem to happen.
Watch: Garbutt sets up England's winner
“It was good to get 90 minutes, I haven’t played a full game for a while but for myself, I wanted to get 90 minutes under my belt and put a good shift in - I thought I did that.”
Garbutt and his teammates will now reconvene on Sunday before heading out to Czech Republic for the Euros.
And for a player who already has one European title to his name after being part of the England U17 squad that lifted the UEFA Championship in 2010, he believes they have the ability to make a challenge.
Luke training at St. George's Park
“We’ve got the firepower to go far in the competition and we’ve just got to brush up on a few things. I think we have a good chance,” he said.
“The group is strong mentally and the character shown to get that goal is going to help us massively.
“It tops off a positive season for myself and hopefully I can progress now and kick-on and win the tournament.”
England's Euro Finals campaign begins on Thursday night when they face Portugal, they meet Sweden three days later then on 24 June Italy are the opponents to wrap up the group.
You can follow all the news inside the camp with us here on TheFA.com, on Twitter and Instagram @England and on Facebook.com/EnglandTeam.
