Winner joins growing list of JWP's England highlights

The Southampton midfielder added another on Monday evening as he captained the Under-21s against Germany at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium.

And when he popped up to score a late winner and secured a 3-2 victory against England’s fellow Euro Final contenders, the 20-year-old said he was buzzing again after his first week back with Gareth Southgate’s squad since September 2014.

"It’s one of a few at the minute," said Ward-Prowse. 

"It’s good to get the winner and a winner against Germany is fantastic for this group of lads.

"We’ve shown not only in the last week, but in recent months, that we can beat the top teams and we can perform.

"We win games and we win them well and there’s a great team spirit going into the summer."

England did have to fight back twice after Kaiserslautern striker Philipp Hofmann scored a brace to put the visitors ahead in each half.

But Ward-Prowse added that he always felt the Three Lions would eventually find their rhythm and get back into the game after a slow start.

"If you look at the most successful teams it’s not always plain sailing," he added.

"You are going to get things that you have to try and avoid but I think we’ve shown that we’ve got great character in our squad to get back to winning ways.

"We’ve shown we can perform at the top level, that’s the big thing that the manager is trying to get across and everybody is trying to share the same goal of where we want to be in the summer."

With no more matches for Southgate’s squad until the domestic season has ended, the group will meet again in early June to start their final preparation for the Euros.

And Ward-Prowse believes the final 23 is far from decided with plenty of players eager to board the plane back to Olomouc.

"If you look all over the squad, there’s great competition for places and I don’t think the manager knows his best players yet," said Ward-Prowse, who missed the October and November fixtures with a foot injury.

"There are players who can come into it, so we’ve all got to be professional and go back to our clubs and stay fit for the summer."