'It's in our hands': Crawford targets win over England to seal Ireland's U21 Euro playoff place

IN OUR HANDS: Jim Crawford speaks to Kian McMahon-Brown during a Republic of Ireland U21 training session at Turner's Cross. Pic: Paul Phelan/Sportsfile.

Jim Crawford says Ireland are prepared for every eventuality as they head into tonight’s final-day showdown against England with a European U21 Championship playoff on the line.

The Boys in Green hold the all-important second spot in Group D, but only a victory over Lee Carsley’s Young Lions, who are already qualified as table-toppers, will guarantee their progression.

Failing that, Ireland would require Slovakia to slip up in Andorra. Both sides are tied on 17 points, but Ireland possess the head-to-head tiebreaker.

This down-to-the-wire scenario at a sold-out Turner’s Cross looked unlikely after Crawford’s side were humbled 4-0 by the Pyrenean microstate, but three consecutive wins have put them in control of their own destiny.

Andorra remain unbeaten at home in this group (two wins, two draws) and were only denied a famous victory over England by a 90th-minute Rico Lewis penalty. Still, Crawford isn’t expecting any favours.

“The unfortunate thing is that Andorra, when they played against us, they dropped down quite a few first-team players. I don't think that's going to happen against Slovakia,” he said.

“We're well aware of that, but it's in our hands. You can't ask for any more than coming into the last game against England at home in Turner’s Cross, where the play-offs is in our hands.

“If you said to us after the game away to Andorra or at home to Moldova (1-1) that you could be in this position, we would have said, yeah, all day, give us that opportunity in the final game, a final showdown with England.

“We're grateful to be in this position, but we're in this position through hard work.”

Crawford will have a staff member monitoring the other scoreline in case it affects Ireland’s approach.

“It's important to know what we have to do,” he said. “If we're forced to change shape or to get more attacking players on the pitch because of what's going on in the other game, you have to. We're prepared for that.”

Captain Seán Grehan had a counterintuitive attitude to Slovakia’s scoreless draw with England on Friday, hoping their closest challengers would hold out.

“I said it to a few of the lads when we were watching the game,” recalled the Doncaster Rovers centre-back. “I was glad in a weird way when Slovakia drew because it takes everything out of the equation.

“If you go into a game and you're thinking, what's the result there, you lose sight of actually going and trying to win the game. It's in our hands now.

“We have a total focus on winning the game. I think it's a better approach.”

That result does create some ambiguity around Carsley’s selection. The game is now a dead-rubber for the back-to-back European champions, who are on a 12-game unbeaten run.

Man City star Lewis was drafted into Thomas Tuchel’s senior squad on Sunday. They still feature Premier League experience in Arsenal midfielder Ethan Nwaneri, who is on loan with Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea’s Josh Acheampong, and Tottenham’s Archie Gray.

“It might give Lee Carsley an opportunity to dip in a couple of other players,” said Crawford.

“To the untrained eye, people will be saying, that's great, they're weakened a little bit, but we wouldn't think so.

“The size of the squad, the player pools… Players who haven't made their 21 squad would get into a lot of other international teams, so they've got a wealth of talent.

“You look at the quality that England have, I've no doubt they'll be very close to making it three in the bounce.

“The players that they have on the bench will still represent a huge challenge for us, but we're not really focused on them.

“A lot of it's been about us, how we can get better, what we can do to hurt England, and that's where our concentration levels have been on the build-up to this.

“It's just on the day, how we're focused, how we're organised. It’s a fantastic game for the players to play in, a real barometer of where they're at.”

Crawford describes his group as “an exceptionally young squad”, hailing their evolution and strong mentality for getting to this juncture.

Their primary focus will be tightening up a defence that leaked three goals in last week’s chaotic victory over Kazakhstan.

When asked where this game ranks among the biggest of his young career, Grehan responds: “It's definitely the biggest for me anyway. It probably is for most lads.

“With everything that's on it, with the qualification, and that opportunity to be the first 21s team to qualify, there's loads at stake.

“That's the motivator for the lads. Having that on your CV, being part of that first group to do it, is massive.”