Leicester winger Gray happy to see patient approach pay off for England

Leicester winger Demarai Gray is keeping his fingers crossed his goal-scoring appearance against Poland on Thursday is enough to secure a starting place in England’s Under-21 European Championship semi-final.

Gray combined with Foxes team-mate Ben Chilwell to produce a stunning goal against Poland and help secure the young Lions’ place at the top of Group A.

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It was the 20-year-old’s first start of the tournament and he feels he may have done enough to cement his spot after an impressive performance.

He said: “’Obviously, what I want to do is score as much as I can and create goals.

“It meant a lot to me (to score), but most importantly we got the points and can progress now.

“Like every player I want to play every game so my opportunity came, I’ve had to be patient.

“Hopefully I’ve done enough to keep my place in the team.”

The young winger continued to shine in the second half, providing an assist for Norwich’s Jacob Murphy.

The semi-final will take place on Tuesday, but England will not find out who they will face until the group games finish on Saturday evening.

Regardless of their opponents, Gray believes the squad has the talent to go all the way.

He added: “Everyone knows what depth we’ve got in the team and as a team we’ve shown what we are capable of.

“So if we can put that performance into the semi-finals, no matter who we get we will cause teams problems.

“We’ve got to go out there with confidence and do what we do best.”