Woods reflects on England run

England may have fallen at the final hurdle in the UEFA European Under-17 Championship but midfielder Michael Woods knows he was part of his nation's best-ever run in the competition, earning a FIFA U-17 World Cup debut in August into the bargain.

'Great year'
Spain pipped England 1-0 in Tournai last night, Woods coming close to equalising not long after Bojan Krkić's ultimately decisive goal. Still, the Chelsea FC player is optimistic. "It's been a great year," Woods told uefa.com. "We are delighted to get to the final. We knew we had a good chance, though people wrote us off before, we got through the group stage and having got to the final we were really looking to win it. The first goal was to qualify for the Worlds, we managed that and to represent England for the first time at that level will be a great achievement. But we felt we had it in us to win it, but it wasn't our day, so bring on Korea."

Injuries
Injuries hampered England's campaign, most seriously the concussion that ended the campaign of Woods's fellow central player Henri Lansbury in the last-four defeat of France, and that perhaps told in the final. "Every game we seemed to pick up a knock and Henri's had to go home," Woods said. "But we showed great character throughout the side to get to the final."

Team spirit
Woods also paid tribute to the camaraderie that built up in the England camp during the campaign, but admitted the ending was not to their liking. "There is a great team spirit throughout the coaches and the players, we really pulled together, a shame we couldn't get the right result," Woods said. "It's been a great two weeks, we know we had the chance to go all the way but it is a really big disappointment to get there and not pick up the trophy."