Hope keen to avenge Serbian comeback
Tuesday, 22 November, 2011
Three Euro qualifying points crucial after 2-2 draw out in Belgrade.
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Hope Powell is looking for nothing less than three points when her England Women’s side take on Serbia on Wednesday at the Keepmoat Stadium.
They go into the game third in their Euro 2013 qualifying group, but with a game in hand on both Holland the Serbs above them. A victory at the home of Doncaster Rovers will leave them second, two points behind the Dutch.
England are unbeaten in their three qualifiers so far, but didn’t capitalise on the host of chances they created against Serbia in September, ultimately drawing 2-2. But they followed this up with a comfortable 4-0 dismissal of Slovenia and a hard-fought 0-0 draw away to Holland. Now Powell wants her charges to kick on.
“We have to get three points to make sure we stay in contention with the Dutch at the top of the group,” she said. “But to do that we need to be more clinical in front of goal. We created 30 openings against Serbia last time and we only scored two. Had we taken some more of our chances it would have been a different story.
“We recognise that it was two points dropped as opposed to a point gained,” Powell continued. “We did enough on the day to win the game, although you have to give credit to Serbia. They dug in, especially when they realised the heat might have been having an impact on our players, they kept pushing right until added time and got the equaliser. But we had enough chances to bury the game and the players were understandably disappointed coming off the pitch.
“Having said that I actually thought we played well, I’m just disappointed that we didn’t score more. Hopefully we can be more clinical this time around.”
Squad in full (click on each player's name for a full profile)
Goalkeepers
Karen Bardsley (Linköpings, on loan from Sky Blue), Rachel Brown (Everton), Siobhan Chamberlain (Bristol Academy)
Defenders
Sophie Bradley (Nottingham Forest, on loan from Lincoln), Alex Scott (Boston Breakers), Casey Stoney (Lincoln), Dunia Susi (Birmingham City), Rachel Unitt (Everton), Fern Whelan (Everton)
Midfielders
Laura Bassett (Birmingham City), Dani Buet* (Chelsea), Jess Clarke (Lincoln), Steph Houghton (Arsenal), Jade Moore (Birmingham City), Jill Scott (Everton), Fara Williams (Everton), Rachel Yankey (Arsenal)
Forwards
Karen Carney (Birmingham City), Natasha Dowie (Everton), Kelly Smith (Boston Breakers), Ellen White (Arsenal), Rachel Williams (Birmingham City)
* replaced Eniola Aluko from Sky Blue, who withdrew from the squad due to her legal studies