Goals in the fifth minute of each half, from Denys Garmash and then Dmytro Korkishko, were too much for the youngsters at the Olimpiyskyi Stadium in Donetsk.

 

England, who kicked off after a minute's silence was observed following the death two days ago of former national senior manager Sir Bobby Robson, had looked an improving team on their way to the final.

Having previously drawn 2-2 with Ukraine in the group stages, they booked their rematch with a 3-1 extra-time win over France in Thursday's semi-final.
 

They soon found themselves trailing, however, before a noisy crowd of 25,100 when Garmash got on the end of a corner to the near post and powered the ball past goalkeeper Jason Steele.
 

England thought they were level shortly after the quarter-hour mark when Aston Villa's Nathan Delfouneso had the ball in the net - only to discover his effort was ruled out for offside.
 

England's best chances came in the first half and fell first to Danny Drinkwater and then via a Henri Lansbury free-kick, which he sent struck straight into the wall from a promising position.
 

It was from a similar position that England were to go 2-0 down, Dan Gosling unfairly impeding Garmash and Korkishko placing the ball beyond Steele into the net.
 

Ukraine captain Kyrylo Petrov and Korkishko again could easily have extended the home lead, while England had few chances to get back into the match in the second half.

 

England manager Brian Eastick was disappointed with the performance of his side but accepted the result was a fair one.

 

He said: “The best team won on the day.

 

“To concede a goal so quickly was exactly the same as in the group game and when you concede a goal that early in the game, it puts you on the back foot.

 

“We spoke in the dressing room about getting onto the front foot, so it definitely knocked us back.

 

“I didn't think we played particularly well in the first half and I thought that we could improve after half time, but then the timing of the second goal really knocked the stuffing out of our team.

 

“Psychologically, they are good times to score and once the second goal went in, we physically and mentally struggled.

 

“I think Ukraine over the 90 minutes were the better side so I have no complaints about the result.”

 

Delfouneso, who received the award for finishing as the tournament's top scorer, will be among those Britain could be looking too in three years when London hosts the Olympics, when the football tournament is restricted to mainly under-23 players.

 

The 18-year-old said: "It was great to play against teams who are from different footballing cultures to ours.

 

"I thought the fans brought something special to the tournament too and there was a fantastic crowd here today.

 

"Overall I've learned quite a lot."