Jack Stephens believes England Under-21s can take plenty of positives to Poland this summer.
The Young Lions are preparing to face Denmark in Randers on Monday evening, having previously met Germany on Friday.
And the Southampton defender admits there’s still work to be done ahead of the Euro Finals in June, but with head coach Aidy Boothroyd using this trip to experiment and assess his options, he feels England are on the right track.
“We’ve got a few things to work on but there are definitely some positives,” said Stephens, who featured throughout in the 1-0 reverse to Germany.
“I think we can see that we’re not too far away from where we want to be.
“It [Germany] was a good test for us and good to find out where we are on the scale of things and what we’re going to face in the summer.
“They’re definitely one of the better sides we’ve played but we can take the positives from tonight and take it forward into the summer.”
The 22-year-old has been a regular in the U21s squad throughout the qualifying campaign, but the last few months have seen him become more of a regular starter in central defence.
That follows a run of form which started back in November when he netted England’s winner against Italy at his home ground of St. Mary’s, before finding a spot in Claude Puel’s first team in the subsequent months.
And now he’s hoping to end the season on a high by enjoying a successful trip to the Euros.
“We’ve been very successful in the last two years so it would be nice to go over there and show what we’re about,” he added.
“We want to do better and we want to go over there and win it ideally.
“But we’ll take things one step at a time as we have done through the whole of qualification and like we did in Toulon.
“We took a lot of confidence from winning that tournament, because it was a long time since an England team had won it before we did.
“I think we saw that in the games after Toulon too and Germany was our first game since November, so it’s been a bit of a break.
“But we’re confident, we’ll take positives from Friday and take it into Monday now.”
The former Plymouth Argyle youngster is also looking forward to getting back to Southampton and enjoying a strong end to the campaign there.
After spending time on loan with the likes of Swindon Town, Middlesbrough and Coventry City in recent seasons, his patience has been rewarded with a run of games.
And that’s been a timely boost for his international ambitions too, with competition for places in the U21s Euro squad hotting up.
“It’s been great for me to get these opportunities at club level as that gives me a better opportunity at international level,” he said.
“I was always confident in my own ability if I was called upon and thankfully the gaffer gave me an opportunity and I’m just glad I can help the team.
“It’s been a natural progression. Since the start of the season I’ve improved as a player and I’ve worked on a lot of things.
“I think I’ve benefited from staying at Southampton, and I knew if I was patient and worked hard that I’d eventually get a chance.”
