England’s Futsal team recorded two wins over Latvia at St. George’s Park last week.
Peter Sturgess’s side stormed to a 5-1 victory on Friday before battling to a 2-0 triumph 24 hours later, against a team ranked 18 places higher in the world rankings. Indeed, Latvia were a shadow of the team that thumped the Three Lions 7-1 in a World Cup qualifier in 2011.
Watch highlights of the first clash at St. George's Park
In the opening match, England took the lead after 12 minutes when Richard Ward’s shot was inadvertently deflected into his own net by Kolesnikovs.
A second goal followed soon after, courtesy of the ever-reliable Luke Ballinger who finished off an incisive passing move that cut open the visitors’ defence.
Three Lions goalkeeper Jordan Parker made a few important saves in the first half, but he was unable to prevent the Latvians from halving the deficit following a well-worked free-kick.
In an attempt to level proceedings, Latvia resorted to playing with a fly-goalkeeper but this exciting and high-risk strategy backfired as some loose passing presenting England players with an unguarded net to attack. Ian Parkes, Stuart Cook and Ballinger all benefited in the last couple of minutes to secure a resounding win.
England were not as impressive in the second game but still managed to grind out another positive result.
They created a number of good chances in the opening period and deservedly took the lead through a classy finish from Dave Jennings.
However, the hosts then eased up and were sucked into a physical encounter that suited Latvia.The remainder of the game was a rather torrid affair, littered with fouls and the occasional spark of brilliance from England.
Latvia missed two long penalties and England never looked likely of losing this match after that. Stuart Cook sealed the win at the death with another high quality long-range finish into an empty net after another failed experiment by Latvia to play with a fly-keeper.
England’s final warm-up matches prior to January’s Euro qualifiers are two away fixtures in Andorra in December, where the Three Lions will hope to maintain their positive momentum.
Highlights of Saturday's game with Latvia.
