Biliy urges Ukraine to keep battling

Their hopes of UEFA European Under-21 Championship progress may look slim but forward Maxym Biliy is not ready to throw in the towel just yet for Group B's basement team, Ukraine.

Pavlo Yakovenko's men must beat Spain in Sunday's final group match to resurrect their campaign – a tough-looking prospect yet Biliy sounded undaunted. "We have only one game left so we must play to win and aim to win," said the FC Zorya Luhansk attacker.

Ukraine remained bottom of the section after Wednesday's goalless draw with England which brought them their first point of the tournament. While Spain sit top with four, a Ukrainian victory in Herning would put them in the semi-finals ahead of the current leaders on the head-to-head rule.

"We have one chance left to get to the semi-finals and I think we should take advantage of this," Biliy, 22, said. "Today was a hard-fought match, neither team had any really strong moments and that's why it finished goalless."

Although England's Daniel Sturridge struck the crossbar just after the half-hour, Ukraine shaded the first period before England stepped up a gear after the break. "In the first half things looked a little better for us and in the second half England had more chances." While Danny Welbeck missed when clean through, Ukraine substitute Roman Zozulya might have won the game late on only to be denied by Frank Fielding.

Biliy, scorer as a substitute in the opening loss to the Czech Republic, began in Herning as one of five changes by Yakovenko. He felt Ukraine "looked fresh" for it and that certainly applied to another of the new players, Denys Garmash, the floating second striker who picked up the Carlsberg Sport Man of the Match.

Garmash predicts that Yakovenko will alter things again against Spain, saying: "We brought 23 players with us to the tournament and I think those who had a chance to rest could be playing in the next game."

The 21-year-old from FC Dynamo Kyiv offered an insight into why the match was slow in coming to life when he added: "I think at first both teams seemed focused on not losing the game. We needed to score a goal and maybe we were slightly nervous." There will be no room for nerves on Sunday.