Toothless Young Lions held

England were held to a second successive stalemate at the European U21 Championship as they drew 0-0 with Ukraine.

Pearce's men pick up a point but must now beat Czechs to progress

England were held to a second successive stalemate at the European U21 Championship on Wednesday as they drew 0-0 with Ukraine. A lacklustre showing from Stuart Pearce's side means they must now beat the Czech Republic in their remaining Group B fixture on Sunday if they are to reach the semi-finals. The Young Lions lacked imagination throughout a tame encounter, with too many long balls lumped forward towards an isolated Danny Welbeck. Daniel Sturridge came closest to breaking the deadlock in the opening 45 minutes, but saw a dipping volley crash off the top of the crossbar. Welbeck then wasted the best of the chances in the second half as he sliced horribly wide after being freed by Sturridge.

Warning

A win in midweek would have left England needing only a draw to progress and the signs looked promising for the opening five minutes. However, captain Michael Mancienne - retained despite his performance against Spain - was then sidestepped too easily by Denys Garmash, whose 20-yard shot was deflected over. Pearce's team failed to heed the warning and Frank Fielding spilt Yevhen Konoplyanka's 12th-minute 25-yard attempt, with Ryan Bertrand only just beating Maxym Biliy to the rebound. England could barely get into their opponents' half before surrendering the ball, while Ukraine showed just why they had gone through qualifying unbeaten. After Konoplyanka was booked for tripping the recalled Jack Rodwell, Yaroslav Rakitskiy drilled a free-kick wide. Pearce became increasingly irate on the touchline, screaming at the anonymous Danny Rose to attack the Ukraine right-back. Oleg Golodyuk was booked for diving but England were arguably employing even more desperate tactics, pumping wasteful long balls forward to an ineffective Welbeck. The only real moments of skill had come from Sturridge, who finally abandoned his right wing position in the 33rd minute to pounce on a bouncing ball and unleash an unstoppable 30-yard half-volley that crashed off the bar.

Fierce

Biliy became the latest Ukraine player booked but he was soon the victim when Rodwell went through the back of him and was also yellow-carded. England finished the first half on top, while Sturridge drilled a fierce free-kick too close to Kanibolotskiy just after the break. But Ukraine soon settled again and Artem Kravets flicked Konoplyanka's corner into the side-netting. Another moment of magic from Sturridge almost changed that in the 54th minute, his incredible volleyed pass sending Welbeck clean through only for the striker to blaze wide. Mancienne was then allowed to carry the ball forward and drill a shot just past the post seconds before Rodwell and Rose were hauled off for Henri Lansbury and Scott Sinclair with the hour mark approaching. The pair made an instant impact, Lansbury pouncing on a loose ball and feeding Sinclair, who was let down by a heavy touch. He then earned a needless booking after finishing a move long after being flagged offside.

Parry

Yaroslav Rakitskiy was booked for tripping Lansbury before the impressive Konoplyanka was surprisingly replaced by Andriy Yarmolenko. Phil Jones was stepping out of defence to good effect, while Garmash forced a smart parry from Fielding midway through the half. Ukraine then threw on Zozulya for Kravets with 20 minutes remaining. The new man nearly proved an inspired substitution when he glanced Bohdan Butko's cross wide, while Sinclair also headed Welbeck's centre off target. Sturridge had a shot blocked as England, like on Sunday, committed more men forward late on but Ukraine knew a draw was even more damaging for them than for their opponents. And they almost broke the deadlock eight minutes from time when Jones' first error of the tournament let in Zozulya, but Fielding produced another fine stop. Lansbury drilled wide from 20 yards, while Sturridge's 30-yard blast was tipped round the post by Kanibolotskiy, who also kept out Welbeck's header from a corner. Mancienne was finally withdrawn a minute from time and replaced by Fabrice Muamba before Welbeck had another sniff in the final minute and Jones was booked in stoppage time.

Ukraine U21	Team Statistics	England U21
0	Goals	0
0	1st Half Goals	0
3	Shots on Target	3
4	Shots off Target	8
3	Blocked Shots	3
5	Corners	4
24	Fouls	12
0	Offsides	1
4	Yellow Cards	4
0	Red Cards	0
74.6	Passing Success	73.6
25	Tackles	27
80	Tackles Success	66.7
51.3	Possession	48.7
46.6	Territorial Advantage	53.4