It had been a superb performance from Keith Webb’s team, who led through Jack Rutter’s free-kick only to concede a late equaliser against their higher-ranked opponents.
In the early stages, Ukraine had most of the possession and 'keeper Giles Moore made a number of good saves to keep the Three Lions level.
Ukraine 1-1 England
CPISRA European Championships
Saturday 26 July 2014
Maia, Portugal
By Jon Whittingham
England had their chances too, notably through Ollie Nugent and James Blackwell who both broke through to almost open the deadlock before half time, when things remained all square.
The Three Lions almost made the perfect start to the second half as Nugent saw an early shot blocked, but the Ukrainians continued their dominance in possession and began creating more chances.
And with England sitting deeper and deeper, soaking up the pressure and looking to break quickly, Moore was again called upon made a number of fine saves to keep the scores level.
But when Nugent was brought down on the edge of the box with 13 minutes to go, Rutter stepped up to give England the lead with a fine free-kick, a just reward for their endeavours.
The game ended 1-1 in Maia
Ukraine redoubled their efforts in an attempt to find an equaliser and it came with just two minutes of the game left, when a shot from the edge of the box crept in to break English hearts.
The result means that Ukraine top the group with England second, ahead of the quarter-final ties on Tuesday.
"I am immensely proud of the boys tonight," said Webb after the game.
"They posed us a great challenge and we rose to the task and showed what we can do collectively when the pressure is on.
"The boys may feel gutted now but their determination, effort and hard work meant they more than earned that point.
"Other teams will be scared to play us now and the Ukrainians looking to just keep hold of the ball in the last couple of minutes and not attack us is the biggest complement we could have had.
"Now we need to recuperate and look to prepare for another big game on Tuesday with the quarter-finals."
England: G. Moore, H. Baker, K. Townshend, M. Barker, J. Rutter (c), J. Blackwell (G. Fletcher), O. Nugent.
Goals: J. Rutter (47).
