Vardy hoping to cement England spot

Late-blooming England striker Jamie Vardy is hoping his hard work and training will pay off as he looks to consolidate a position in Roy Hodgson’s squad ahead of Euro 2016.

Vardy saw 10 minutes of action and set up Raheem Sterling’s goal as England accounted for Estonia 2-0 in qualifying on Friday.

The 28-year-old’s cameo should be extended to a start on Monday against Lithuania, but Vardy is not resting on his laurels.

“No one can take their place or their England shirt for granted,” he said.

“If I want to be in that squad I need to keep banging in the goals to make sure I stay in the manager’s plans.”

Playing for England is the surprising culmination of years of hard work for Leicester City star Vardy, who was playing for non-League outfit Stocksbridge Park Steels just five years ago.

Vardy added: “It was another step-up that I didn’t see coming.

“Training with England is just a different gravy again. Movement-wise, finishing-wise, you can learn such a lot from watching the very best in action.”

“The secret’s just lots and lots of hard work and the motivation is that this is exactly what I want to be doing. It’s putting it into practice on the training field, making sure that it’s there on match day.”