England left themselves needing to win their final European Under-21 Championship Group B game to avoid crashing out of the tournament after stumbling to a 0-0 draw against Ukraine.
Stuart Pearce's Young Lions failed to improve upon their opening display against Spain, despite playing arguably inferior opponents at Herning's MCH Arena.
Danny Welbeck missed England's best chance when put clean through by Daniel Sturridge, who also hit the crossbar, but Ukraine might have won it, with Frankie Fielding keeping out Roman Zozulya's late effort.
England must now beat Czech Republic in their final game to reach the semi-finals.
In Wednesday's other game the Czechs crashed to a 2-0 defeat against Spain.
Both sides have been tipped as possible winners of the tournament but on the evidence of this game it is Spain who are the stronger contenders.
Luis Milla's side were held to a 1-1 draw by England in an opening match that saw them dominate possession but lack a cutting edge.
It was a different story in Viborg, though, as Atletico Madrid-bound Adrian scored two expertly-taken goals from Juan Mata assists.
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