'Over the moon'

Sweden 0-2 England
UEFA European Women's U19 Championship
The Final
4pm BST, Saturday 25 July 2009
Belarus

After leading her side to their first ever trophy, England Women’s U19 Head Coach, Mo Marley, could not hide her delight at this landmark victory.

Goals from Toni Duggan and Jordan Nobbs gave England a 2-0 victory over Sweden in the Final of the UEFA European Women’s U19 Championship in Belarus, erasing the disappointment of losing to Germany at the same stage three years ago.

It is the first title accrued at this age level and after the match Marley was full of praise for her young charges.

"I'm absolutely over the moon," she beamed. "It’s unbelievable, just an amazing feeling.

"The girls were absolutely outstanding, not just in the Final, but every game in this tournament. They were resilient, they were strong, they defended really well, they kept the ball well and we showed a lot of quality going forward. I couldn’t have asked anymore from them, they’ve been absolutely fantastic."

England reached the Final after topping Group B ahead of Scandinavian trio Norway, Sweden and Iceland. They did not concede a goal in the whole tournament and Marley says this is a sign of the progress the team has made.

"It’s quite a new squad in terms of the amount of new U19 players but there’s a lot of experience there, obviously last year’s U20 World Cup being a case in point. But the really pleasing thing is that they have transferred everything they’ve learned in the last couple of years and demonstrated it on the pitch. To not concede a goal or lose a game in a really open tournament is quite remarkable really. Everything has come together nicely.

"When we got to the Final of this tournament in 2006 I think just getting there was an achievement in itself, but this time around you could tell that just getting to the Final wasn’t enough for them. They were really focused and they were so determined to go one better and I'm thrilled that they’ve done so."

Marley also believes this victory is the culmination of over a decade of dedicated service from everyone involved in the Women’s game.

"We’ll enjoy this experience now and we’ve got a break until September. Then we go again for next year’s Euros and the U20 World Cup, but hopefully this is the start of things to come.

"We’ve talked briefly about now going on to bigger and better things, but that will only come if we continue with all of the hard work that we've put in over the last 12 months. It’s also a reflection of how far the game has come in the last 10-15 years and the structure that has now been put in place to help these girls perform and excel at this level.

"We're all just delighted. It's great and will hopefully inspire us for the future."