Keegan admitted he and his side 'have a lot of work to do' ahead of next summer's finals following their disappointing second-leg performance.

Keegan's side narrowly beat Scotland to the last place among the 16 Euro 2000 finalists by virtue of an aggregate 2-1 victory set up by their 2-0 first-leg victory at Hamdpen Park.

The England manager Kevin Keegan: "Tonight thy've come here and given us a bit of a doing"

Keegan admitted: "We need to improve. But we stumbled along and we kept hanging in. The one thing we showed is a lot of character.

"Scotland gave us a bit of a pummelling. They came here with nothing to lose and Craig Brown has taken my unbeaten record off me.

Keegan: Don't write us off

"But I will live with that for the chance to play on the bigger stage."

Keegan urged the public not to dismiss his side's chances at next summer's finals as a result of his first defeat as manager.

"We have become a nation that expects the world from our footballers and when we don't, we get slaughtered.

"But that resolve and willingness to get better are still qualities. They are not enough to win Euro 2000. We have got to find a bit to do that.

"But we can only find it if we are there and we are. So don't give up and don't write us off."

Keegan declined to criticise his players and insisted his squad had great character despite their seemingly weak-spirited performance.

"A few of the guys stood up and were counted but four or five of them didn't play as I know they can.

"But I can't emphasise enough that there is a lot of character in this squad.

"We've got six or seven captains. It's been difficult trying to qualify and experiment at the same time.