YORK FUTSAL’s Matthew Barber was on target for England Under 19s in their first Main Round match of the Under 19 Futsal EURO’s this afternoon.

The strike was Barber’s first in England colours, with the young forward continuing the strong form that he showed in the competition’s Preliminary Round earlier this year.

Barber opened the scoring for the Three Lions against Turkey in Policoro, though they ultimately fell to a 6-2 defeat after a sensational second-half comeback from their opponents.

Head coach Sion Kitson had called for his side to be “brave with and without the ball” ahead of kick-off, and named both Barber and York Vikings teammate Jed Devine in his starting line-up.

Bobby Badham, who was another to make a name for himself in the tournament’s opening stages in January, played in Barber to fire home the opening goal in the 12th minute, with Ollie Desborough then profiting from a Turkey red card to increase England’s advantage from a penalty three minutes later.

But despite sustained pressure from the Three Lions, it was their opponents who would complete a dramatic turnaround, netting six unanswered goals to seal a comfortable victory.

Kitson’s side had defied the odds to top their group in January’s Preliminary Round, beating Malta and Estonia to secure their place with a match to spare.

They then went on to defeat hosts Lithuania 3-0 in their final Preliminary match, in a meeting of two teams returning to the competition for the first time since the inaugural 2019 edition.

The Three Lions will not have to wait long in their bid to return to winning ways, as they return to action against hosts Italy tomorrow evening (7:30pm UK time), before taking on the Czech Republic on Saturday afternoon (March 25, 2pm UK time).

The group’s winners will join hosts Croatia in the finals, which will be held from 3-10 September.