Women's international round-up: Welsh duo make history
It was a successful final international break of the year for Southampton FC Women's stars, as Rachel Rowe and Alice Griffiths made history with Wales in qualification for their first ever major tournament.
Over a two-legged qualifying play-off final, they beat the Republic of Ireland 3-2 overall and secured their place in next year's UEFA Women's European Championships.
Rowe and Griffiths started in both legs of the final as Wales had control of the first match, but goalkeeper Olivia Clark’s own goal took the final scoreline to 1-1; Griffiths played 45 minutes whilst Rowe saw out the entirety of the game.
Four days later, in front of 25,832 spectators at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Wales stunned their opponents with a two-goal lead and, after Ireland got one goal back, held on through eight minutes of injury time to seal their history-making qualification.
Griffiths marshalled the midfield for 82 minutes in the crucial decider, with Rowe once more playing every moment of the encounter.
It was emotional scenes on the pitch and in the stands for the travelling fans at the final whistle, who will now be making plans for a summer in Switzerland in 2025.
Elsewhere, four Saints - Fran Stenson, Tara Bourne, Meg Collett, and Lucia Kendall - were called up by Emma Coates to the England Under-23s squad for a pair of international fixtures in the WU23 European League.
There was a reunion in the squad with former Saint Ella Morris for Kendall and Collett, who herself had received a first U23s call-up.
Kendall started and shone in both games as she scored with an impressive finish in their second match against Sweden.
In the first fixture of the week, the team traveled to Fredrikstad to play Norway but were held to a 0-0 draw.
Despite a controlling performance in the second half, Norway managed to hold off their opponents' advances and both teams had to settle for shared points with Kendall playing the full 90 minutes.
Lucia Kendall on target for England. (Photo: George Wood - The FA via Getty Images)
Back on home turf, the Young Lionesses then faced another Scandinavian side in Sweden and Kendall opened the scoring in style; after following up on a loose ball, she curled a shot beautifully into the top corner from just inside the box.
Sweden, however, took control of the game and pulled it back to 2-1 to leave as winners, with Kendall again playing the duration whilst Bourne was introduced for the final half an hour.
England head into the New Year still top of their group despite the result.
Main image: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images
