Pearce wary of Wales ability

England manager Stuart Pearce is taking nothing for granted despite his side's 3-2 lead over Wales ahead of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship play-off second leg at Villa Park.

Slim lead
Aston Villa FC's Gabriel Agbonlahor will be playing at his club home and his second-half winner gave England the edge over their neighbours in Cardiff on Friday. But Wales scored first and equalised just before the break to prove to Pearce's side that a place in Sweden next summer is no done deal. "We have played better but the result was very pleasing," Pearce told uefa.com. "Now we have to make sure we play to our best ability to win on Tuesday night."

No complacency
Pearce, who led England to the semi-finals in 2007, is stressing to his players the danger of taking their advantage for granted. "I think it is part of their footballing education to handle a two-legged tie like this," Pearce said. "We are confident in our own ability though we know we have plenty of work to do. The tie is far from dead; we knew it would be far from dead one way or the other after Friday and that's the way it's panned out."

Wales threat
Defender Andrew Taylor is back from suspension but there is an injury doubt over Villa right-back Craig Gardner. And although Pearce was impressed by England's opponents, he was less happy with Wales scoring twice. "We've conceded two goals, of course I'm not satisfied," the former left-back said. "For a team like us with our defensive record that is very disappointing. But that is something we can work on between now and Tuesday. [Wales] won their group, and France and Romania were in that group, so we are acutely aware of how good they are. They pushed us all the way in May when we played them, in a friendly. We know a bit more about them now."

Duo join up
Wales manager Brian Flynn has taken forward Sam Vokes and defender Steve Evans from the senior squad travelling to Germany, but has lost centre-back Lewin Nyatanga to John Toshack's FIFA World Cup hopefuls. And although England U21s have not lost over 90 minutes for 26 games – and his side will probably have to win by two clear goals – Flynn believes Wales can still qualify. "We have a fit squad to pick from and we will have one or two surprises up our sleeves," he said.

Church has faith
Simon Church scored both Wales goals in the first leg, and he is pointing to the 3-0 win in Romania that ensured their play-off place as proof that they can prevail in Birmingham. "We've done it once; why can't we do it again?" Church said. "It's the same squad which bounced back to win in Romania after losing [to the same team the previous month] in Wrexham. We're the underdogs but we always believe in our ability."