MANCHESTER City's Micah Richards will again captain England Under-21s after coach Stuart Pearce called on his side to put their new-found defensive resilience into action against Lithuania in Vilnius on Tuesday night.

The young Lions are on course for a place in the 2011 European Championships with their a 1-0 win over Portugal on Saturday leaving them three points behind group leaders Greece with a game in hand.

'The resilience of the team was the most important thing to come out of Saturday," said Pearce. "Now we have to build on being difficult to score against.'