ENGLAND'S blind footballers finished runners-up in a successful four-nation competition at Hereford's Royal National College for the blind, writes IAN MORGAN.

Reigning European champions Spain scored twice in the last four minutes of a competitive final at the College Road headquarters to win 2-0 and take the plaudits in a tournament which attracted wide media attention, including BBC's Football Focus and a Japanese television station.

Referring to the final, watched by a 600-strong crowd, Tony Larkin, manager of the England blind football team, said: "It was a very exciting game and it would have gone straight to penalties had Jose Lopez, who was the top scorer in the tournament, not struck twice. Although the Spanish goalkeeper made three brilliant saves in the final, I would have backed our goalkeeper Jon Pugh against his Spanish counterpart in a shoot out."

England captain Dave Clarke, who scored five goals in the tournament, said: "We went into the final striving for revenge after losing 2-1 to Spain in last year's European Championships in Paris. I was very happy with our performance in the first half of the final, but I realise that we have a lot of hard work in front of us before we head to Brazil for the World Cup."

Clarke, himself, got England's campaign off to a winning start with the only goal in a 1-0 victory over France in the opening match, but the hosts suffered a 2-0 reverse against eventual winners Spain in their second outing.

However, England, and Clarke, in particular, bounced back from that defeat to trounce wooden spoonists Greece 5-1 in their final group match, thanks to a four-goal salvo from Clarke and a Darren Harris goal.

Larkin, who is also the sport and recreation co-ordinator at Hereford's Royal College for the Blind, added: "On the development side, the tournament has not only acted as good preparation towards the blind football World Cup at the end of the year, but it raised the profile of the game. And the delegates from France and Spain told us that they would be backing our bid to stage the blind football European Championships in Hereford in August 2003."