England Under-21 manager Stuart Pearce has said that he is pleased to have qualified for the European Championships but admitted that his side need to play better.

Pearce said that England, who beat Norway 1-0 this evening to earn a place in the playoffs as a seeded team, have also done a good job to win seven of their eight group games.

"If you look at the eight days we've been together as a group, overall it's very pleasing," Sky Sports News quotes Pearce as saying.

"We've had a lot of travelling commitments and managed to pick up a good victory that set us up for this game. To win seven out of eight games in this group at international football isn't easy.

"We're pleased with that and pleased to have topped the group but we know full well that we're going to have to play better next month if we are going to be successful and get to the finals."

Connor Wickham scored his first U21 goal in the match.

Written by
Matt Domm