By Hugo Varley
The England women’s team opened their Euro 2017 qualifying campaign by securing a resounding 8-0 victory over Estonia in Tallinn yesterday. Debutant Danielle Carter grabbed a hat-rick, while Jo Potter, Fran Kirby, Jill Scott and Isobel Christiansen also got their names on the score sheet.
Manager Mark Sampson admitted that he was pleased with the result but stressed that the side must be more clinical when playing sterner opposition. He told the media, “We need to make sure we’re putting more of these chances away, but we’re growing on that as a team.”
Sampson was however full of praise for Carter, “Dan was clinical when given the opportunity and produced a very confident performance. I mean, how often do you score a hat-trick on your England debut, she’ll be remembered for that and it’ll go down in the history books, it’s certainly something we can add to our hall of fame.”
The victory puts England top of their group, ahead of Serbia, Estonia, Belgium and Bosnia & Herzegovina.
