Baggies help England win European Powerchair title

Chris Gordon, Matthew Francis, Brad Bates and Marcus Harrison made up half of the eight-man squad which was victorious in the European Powerchair Football AssociationNations Cup in Finland.

Harrison finished the tournament as top scorer, and goalkeeper Gordon, who is also Albion’s player-manager, saved a penalty in the final against France.

“It’s not really sunk in,” said Gordon. “I’ve dreamt of this moment for years. There have been a lot of sacrifices and hard work, so we’re all delighted.

“I’m thrilled for everyone but especially the likes of Brad and Marcus who had an unbelievable tournament. We’ve got four Albion players in this squad and I’m hopeful we can get one or two more in the next squad.

“I’d like to thank The Albion Foundation for their support,” he added. “It’s been a long journey and they’ve given us a platform for players to build to get to this point.

"We’ve got a great structure and it couldn’t be done without having the support from the staff there."

Albion’s powerchair team have been hugely successful in recent years, winning a treble and a double in the last two seasons.

After conquering Europe, England are now targeting the World.

“When we got together for the start of this tournament, we all said it was about the World Cup in Australia in 2021, that’s our goal,” said England coach Colin Gordon.

“It’s an amazing, probably indescribable, feeling to win it and everybody should be very proud because they all played major roles.

“Albion have been very successful so it’s fantastic that those boys have gone on and won something for their countries as well.”

To find out more about Albion’s Powerchair football programme, please email dave.lewis@albionfoundation.co.uk.