Will Hughes was over the moon after making an impact England U21s Euro2015 qualifying win over Croatia on Tuesday.
The Derby County midfielder scored the winner in the Young Lions' 2-1 second leg play-off win in Vinkovci as Gareth Southgate's side beat the Croatians 4-2 on aggregate to gain a berth in next year's tournament to be held in the Czech Republic.
In the wake of the achievement, Hughes spoke of his delight at being a part of an England side that has so far answered all of their critics.
"We showed our quality and how we can play," Hughes told TheFA.com.
"A lot of people have a perception that England can't play football but I think we've come here and shown that we can, especially in the second half."
19-year old Hughes scored in the 73rd minute to give England an edge after they led thanks to Liam Moore's ninth-minute effort and was thrilled to have made a strong contribution for his country.
"It feels brilliant (to have scored), but it was a great team effort," he added.
"We really dug in and knew it would be hard coming out here when there was only one goal in it.
"We got told at half-time that we needed to press higher up and keep hold - and it showed quite a lot of balls from the team to do that when it was so close.
"But we showed our quality in the end."
