England's Redmond upbeat after semi-final 'bonus'

Winger Nathan Redmond told UEFA.com that England have plenty of positives to draw on as they lick their wounds in the aftermath of a 1-0 defeat by the Netherlands.

The UEFA European Under-17 Championship holders' defence came to an end in Thursday's semi-final against Albert Stuivenberg's side, Kyle Ebecilio scoring the only goal in Novi Sad. John Peacock's team were on the brink of an even earlier exit after picking up just a point from their opening two group games, but defeated hosts Serbia 3-0 on Matchday 3 to reach the last four and secure a FIFA U-17 World Cup berth.

"We're through to the World Cup finals," said Birmingham City FC's Redmond. "We're still proud of what we've done. We were in the bottom two in the group – we had to rely on other results – but we played our hearts out against Serbia. This was just a bonus to see if we could get to the European Championship final, but we haven't done that.

"We didn't really start. We haven't started the best in a few games and that's something to look at. We just didn't begin with the pace that we wanted to – not like we did against Serbia. The goal was something we've looked at as well. The No6 [Ebecilio] – I've seen him a few times for Arsenal as well – just runs into the box and he'll score. That's what we looked at on DVD."

With the World Cup draw in Mexico City taking place on Tuesday – and the finals themselves getting underway on 18 June – there is little time for Peacock or his side to wallow in their elimination in Serbia. "We're just concentrating on that now," added Redmond. "As an England group we don't really lose many so it's a good opportunity for us to get this feeling of losing and trying not to come across that again."