STEPHEN Ward believes the Republic of Ireland can still qualify for the knockout stages of Euro 2016 despite their 3-0 defeat to Belgium

Ward made Burnley history as he became the first Claret to feature in the European Championships.

The 30-year-old won his 34th cap as he came in for the injured Jonathan Walters, but Ireland's chances of making the last 16 suffered a blow as they were outclassed by Marc Wilmots' side.

They now need to beat Italy on Wednesday to reach four points and give them a chance of making it through the group.

"We’ll have to dust ourselves down and give it everything Wednesday because we still have a chance," said Ward.

“The lads will leave everything out there and we’ll see where that takes us.

“Whatever happens, whoever goes out there, we’ll give it everything. It’s a tough group but we still feel we can qualify.

“We’ve pulled off big results before, we’ve been down in the dumps and come back strong so hopefully we can do the same again on Wednesday.”

Ireland went in goalless with Belgium at the break, but Romelu Lukaku broke the deadlock three minutes into the second half and Axel Witsel made it two, before Lukaku rounded off the scoring.

But Ward was disappointed with the goals Ireland conceded.

“We’ve lost to a quality side but we didn’t help ourselves in terms of the way we’ve conceded the goals.

“I thought we were right in the game. Obviously they had a lot of possession in the first half but I felt we were in the game and if we’d kept it level maybe 15, 20 minutes into the second half, you never know what’s going to happen.

“We knew it was going to be difficult and we knew they’d have a lot of the ball but I thought in the first half our shape was good.

“We minimised them to two or three half-chances, nothing major and we were disappointed in the first half not to make more of some situations we got ourselves into.

“At half-time we were pleased and knew the first goal was goal to be vital. We’re disappointed with the way we conceded it.

“From there it’s difficult. You’re against a team who are good in possession, we gave it a go but we came up short.”