England U21 boss Stuart Pearce happy with the football his side played to get to Euro 2013

England Under-21 boss Stuart Pearce says he is extremely proud of his side for the manner in which they qualified for the European Championship.

The Young Lions secured qualification for the tournament in Israel after completing a 2-0 aggregate victory over Serbia thanks to a last-minute goal by Connor Wickham.

There then followed a series of confrontations that are now being investigated by UEFA - but Pearce, who is currently preparing his side for Tuesday's match against Northern Ireland at Blackpool, has reiterated his pride in his team.

He said: "My mentality hasn't changed, and I am still very proud from a footballing point of view as to how the team did over the two legs.

"For us to qualify we have put in a lot of hard work, and that was lost track of with what happened.

"It is in the hands of the authorities, and they will do what they see fit.

"We will sit back and say that we won two games over 180 minutes, rightly so, and we deserved to win and go through.

"From my point of view the footballing side must always come before other incidents."