Danielle Carter savours 'surreal' start to England career after second hat-trick

15 September 2016 22:23

Danielle Carter labelled the dream start to her England career "surreal" after a second successive hat-trick against Estonia.

The Arsenal forward took her international tally to six goals in two caps as she led a 5-0 rout in qualifying for Euro 2017, having made her debut in last year's 8-0 win over the Baltic minnows.

"I couldn't have imagined it," she told FATV.

"The first time I did it, it was just a dream come true. This time, it actually feels surreal - it feels like I'm dreaming.

"I'm just happy to get more caps and more goals. I was hoping we could get more and more like the first time we played them.

"But yeah, I was buzzing."

Jill Scott scored England's second goal in the first half and Karen Carney deservedly rounded off the scoring with a penalty in stoppage time to leave manager Mark Sampson praising a fine team performance.

"She's the one who'll get the plaudits," Sampson said of Carter. "(It was) a really good performance from Dan, but the team were good today.

"We were solid defensively again, aggressive at times to get the ball back and open up some good passing lines to the forwards and the wide players.

"Credit to those four (Carter, Carney, Gemma Davison and Nikita Parris) tonight, when they got the ball they were effective.

"But I still felt we left some goals out there tonight, which is frustrating in a way but also pleasing because it shows we're creating lots of chances."

England face Belgium on Tuesday in their final qualifier. Both teams have already secured their places in Holland next summer, but England will qualify as group winners if they avoid defeat in Leuven.

Source: PA