Steven Gerrard has insisted that England are hitting good form at the right time after advancing to the last eight of Euro 2012.

The Three Lions skipper was voted man of the match after his side's 1-0 victory over Ukraine sent them through to the quarter-finals of the tournament as winners of Group D. The Liverpool captain provided the assist for Wayne Rooney's winning goal against the co-hosts and believes that the squad can continue to improve.

"It was a difficult group and the idea was to try and win it. No-one believed in us at the start but we're gaining momentum at the right time," said Gerrard.

"I don't think tonight's performance was fantastic, but we stuck together, got the job done and won 1-0 against a good team.

"We've been criticised in the past maybe for not turning up, under-performing and we can take that, we're man enough. But you saw a reaction.

"When you get criticised it's not nice and you have to react by playing better and I think that's what we did."

England face Italy in the knockout stages of the competition on Sunday.