I showed what I can do

Matt Derbyshire insists he didn’t see Serbian defender Slobodan Rajkovic on the floor as he swept England into a 2-0 lead in Nijmegen on Sunday night.

The Blackburn Rovers striker had been on the pitch for his first appearance of the Championship for just eight minutes when he controlled Kieran Richardson’s pass and drove beyond Alexandar Kesic.

He was then mobbed by Serb players protesting that the 21-year-old did not kick the ball out of play.

"There’s been a lot of controversy about the goal but from my point of view I honestly didn’t see the man who was sat on the floor," he told TheFA.com.

"Looking back at it I can see why there was so much controversy. But if the whistle hasn’t gone, I’m still going to play on. In training and games you’re always trained to play to the whistle."

Derbyshire continued: "I thought to myself ‘what’s going on’. At first I thought, was I offside. But after I looked at it again on the replay and I obviously know why.

"It was a delightful game and it was great that I got on. Watching the matches is very frustrating, being on the bench sat down wanting to come on.

"When I got my chance I showed the manager what I could do."

Derbyshire, whose goal on Sunday took his Under-21s tally to two, is now confident England can go on and overcome hosts Holland in Heerenveen on Wednesday to reach the Final.

"The morale around the camp is terrific and if we can keep that work up on and off the pitch, there’s no reason why we can’t get to the Final," he added.

"They [Holland] are a great team and have done very well to get this far in the competition, but hopefully we can play as well as we know we can and hopefully knock them out of the competition."

Click on the links to watch the interview in full.