England 11-0 Faroe Islands
UEFA 2006 Women’s U19 European Championship
Qualifying Round One
Pirelli Stadium, Burton Albion FC
27 September 2005
Captain Jill Scott and striker Lianne Sanderson each bagged a brace as England Under-19’s hammered the Faroe Islands at Burton Albion’s Pirelli Stadium last night.
After Scotland had beaten Croatia 3-0 in the opening match of the first qualifying round tournament, England’s relentless display swept them to the top of the four-team group with a massively superior goal difference.
Mo Marley’s team set themselves up with two early goals, Everton central defender Fern Whelan heading home a corner by Birmingham City midfielder Heather Scheuber, then Bristol Academy winger Dani Bird lobbing in the second after latching on to Fulham winger Dania Susi’s through-ball.
Any resistance the Faroe Islands might have offered was then shattered in an 11-minute spell that brought four further goals.
Arsenal’s Sanderson hit her first of the evening with a 15 yard drive from Everton striker Chantelle Parry’s cross, Susi cut in from the right to slide in goal number four, Sanderson headed home another fine cross by Parry and then Parry herself found the net following a tremendous pass by the outstanding Scheuber.
A small but enthusiastic crowd had to watch another 25 minutes of play before England’s next goal, but after Sunderland midfielder Scott had headed in Bird’s corner the floodgates once again opened.
Wolves striker Becky Hall, on as substitute for the injured Susi, raced past two defenders to score a fine goal, Sunderland full back Steph Houghton squeezed in the ninth from a Scheuber pass and Scott put the scoreline into double figures with a glancing header from Hall’s teasing cross.
Arsenal striker Gemma Davison, who had replaced Parry, forced in a close range shot to complete the rout in the last minute.
A monster win it certainly was, but Under-19’s Coach Marley was not going overboard as she assessed her team’s performance against comparatively weak opposition.
“The most pleasing thing,” said Marley, “was that the players implemented all the things asked of them in a game we knew we were expected to win.
“Our opponents only had one player up front and with a packed midfield and defence up against you, that can be hard to break down.
“But the girls showed patience when they had to and generally speaking, it was a disciplined display with everyone working for each other – I think that last point is proved by the fact that we had nine different goalscorers.
“We mustn’t get carried away by this scoreline, though. If we are going to progress towards next year’s finals we have to produce sustained performances like that against better opposition, but that was certainly a good start for us.”
England (4-2-3-1):
Danielle Hill (Everton); Stephanie Houghton (Sunderland), Fern Whelan (Everton), Kylie Davies (Fulham), Michelle Evans (Everton); Heather Scheuber (Birmingham City), Jill Scott (Sunderland); Dunia Susi (Fulham) (sub Rebecca Hall (Wolves) 36), Lianne Sanderson (Arsenal), Danielle Bird (Bristol Academy) (sub Jayne Eadie (Everton) 64); Chantelle Parry (Everton) (sub Gemma Davison (Arsenal) 56).
Goals: Whelan 10, Bird 17, Sanderson 21, 25, Susi 22, Parry 31, Scott 56, 89, Houghton 67, Hall 80, Davidson 90
Attendance: 574