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England U21 vs Poland U21. European Under-21 Championship Group A.

Kielce City Stadion.

England U21 3

  • D Gray (6th minute)
  • J Murphy (69th minute)
  • L Baker (82nd minute pen)

Poland U21 0

  • J Bednarek (sent off 82nd minute)

England U21 v Poland U21 preview: Young Lions look to make semis

England's Alfie Mawson celebrates scoring his side's first goal of the game during the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, Group A match at the Kolporter

Aidy Boothroyd hopes England can continue to improve at the European U21 Championship and secure their semi-final spot by beating Poland, live on Sky Sports.

England will top Group A and take the pool's only qualification spot for the semi-finals with victory over the hosts on Thursday, but can also claim first position if they draw - should Sweden get a point against Slovakia in the other game.

A defeat for the Young Lions would mean they could not take the automatic qualification spot and would be reliant on finishing as the best runner-up across all three groups in the tournament.

Second-placed Slovakia are a point behind England, with every team in the group capable of qualifying.

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Norwich and Southampton's England U21 players go head-to-head to see who knows more about the beautiful game...

"The way the tournament is set up with the winners of the group and the best runners-up going through, when you've got the teams that are in the other groups like Portugal, Germany and Italy, you know you have to win your group," said England boss Boothroyd.

"We were quite pleased with a point from our first game but it's taken a bit of waking up to realise that we had to win that game and we have to win this one too. We don't want to put our future in anyone else's hands.

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Watch highlights of England’s win over Slovakia

"We're here to go as far as we can and if we keep improving then why can't we reach the semis and go beyond that?

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"But first things first, what we definitely won't do is get carried away and complacent. We've got a job to do against a really good team with 15,000 people behind them and against us."

Midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah agreed with Boothroyd after a draw with Sweden and victory over Slovakia moved England top but refused to start looking at the knockout stages yet.

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Watch highlights of England’s win over Slovakia

He said: "It would be a great achievement. But it's more about focusing on the game tomorrow and making sure things are in our hands.

"If we can get past tomorrow then we can start focusing on the semis and hopefully going on to win the tournament."

Slovakia started their campaign with a 2-1 win over Poland but were then beaten by England. Sweden are on two points after drawing with England and Poland.

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Match stats

England U21s have won three of the last four competitive internationals between these sides, losing the other, and scored 13 times in those fixtures.

The last meeting between the teams saw the Young Lions secure a 4-1 in a qualifier in Sheffield in 2005. Steven Taylor scored twice while Carlton Cole and Jerome Thomas were also on the scoresheet.

England have met the hosts at U21 European Championships finals tournaments five times before, winning twice (including once on penalties) and losing three (also including once on penalties).

Last time England met the hosts was in 2013 in Israel - they lost 1-0 in Jerusalem.

Watch England U21s v Poland U21s live on Sky Sports on Thursday or follow on www.skysports.com

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