England C manager Paul Fairclough says it is now up to Braintree Town’s players to prove they are worthy of wearing the Three Lions on their chests this summer.

Fairclough was impressed by the performance of Iron skipper Kenny Davis on his full England debut last week as he helped the national non-league under-23 side draw 1-1 with Italy in their International Challenge Trophy (ICT) opener.

The England boss said it was a good start to the tournement, but he is now turning his attention to the next ICT fixture in Russia in June and says the door is wide open for players to grab a place on the plane.

Fairclough said: “There are no friendlies scheduled between now and June, but what we are trying to arrange is for the Russia trip to be turned into a mini tour.

“The game against Russia comes on June 4 and we will look to arrange a game in the week before that either in this country or somewhere closer to Russia.

“We will be taking 18 players for that tour. The lads who were involved against Italy have all been told that no-one did themselves any harm and everyone did their chances a lot of good, but no-one’s place is guaranteed in the summer.

“I’m going to be picking the best team that I can at the time.

“I’ve made no promises to anyone.

“Kenny did himself a great deal of good, like all the lads, but we will be looking at teams all over the country between now and then and players at Braintree have as much chance as anyone to impress us.”

See the paper this week for the full version of this story and to see what England boss Paul Fairclough made of Kenny Davis' England display.