England’s deaf women’s Futsal squad have secured their spot at next year’s European Championship.
The Lionesses will head to Finland for the finals next December, after successfully coming through the qualifying round earlier this week.
Taking place in Norway, England found their range with impressive 5-2 and 8-1 victories over Turkey and the host nation respectively.
And they were held to a 3-3 draw by Poland in the crucial final game to seal second spot in the group and a shot at the title in 12 months.
A hat-trick from Zara Musker and goals from Emma Brown and debutant Lucy Durham were enough to see off Turkey in the opener before they faced a second game later that day against Norway.
England had to show their character too, as they found themselves a goal down against the hosts in the early stages in front of a fervent home crowd.
But confidence was clearly still high from their early victory as the Lionesses responded in style with a brace apiece for Emma Brown and Rebecca Kemp and a strike from Louise Hogan making it 5-1 at half time.
Second-half goals from Kemp, Hogan and Musker completed the rout to set up a thrilling final game with Poland the following day to decide top-spot.
Two goals for Kemp and a goal for Danielle Evans put the girls in control at 3-1 but Poland weren’t finished and bounced back with two late goals to seal a draw which meant England had to settle for second spot as a result of goal difference.
It was still enough to progress though and the squad will now have over a year to prepare for the Finals, which begin on 4 December 2018 in Tampere, Finland.
The squad: Asnath Losala, Ceara Toal, Danielle Evans, Emma Brown, Jennifer Evans, Louise Hogan, Lucy Durham, Molly Ripley, Nikita Hitchen, Lhathini Pushpalingham, Rebecca Kemp, Zara Musker
