Viewing boost for England women

England's quest to win the European Championships for the first time has been greeted with record viewing figures for women's football.

As well as a near 30,000 crowd for England's 3-2 win over Finland in Manchester on Sunday, the live coverage on BBC2 peaked at 2.9 million.

That figure surpassed the previous best for a televised women's match in this country, set last year.

On that occasion 2.5m saw Arsenal play Charlton in the FA Cup final.

And for two watching youngsters, there was a particular interest in the performance of England central defender Mary Phillip.

One of only two mothers in the side, Phillip combines her playing duties with England and Premier League champions Arsenal with raising Jordan (nine) and Marcus (five).

"A lot of people have kids and have to do their job or their hobby and that's the same as me," said Phillip, capped 37 times and the longest-serving member of Hope Powell's squad.

"I play football as a hobby, it can't be a job for me, and I have my kids. It's just part of every day of life for me.

"When the squad met up they came up for the week because it was half-term. Now they have gone back home because they are back at school, but they will be coming up again at the weekend."

Phillip, who returned to international football in 2002 after a break for family reasons, added: "There are a lot of phone calls but I do get to see them a fair bit.

"The staff have been brilliant in allowing them to come up and spending time.

"They know how important it is for me to have them as part of my life, while still keeping my mind on football at the same time.

"They were watching on Sunday night before going to bed. They are not footballing fans, but they don't mind watching mum every now and then."

The boys will have another four games to watch if England make it all the way through to the final at Ewood Park on June 19, for which over 12,500 tickets have already been sold.

England also play their last two Group A games at Blackburn Rovers' home with a combined total of almost 25,000 tickets having been snapped up for the fixtures against Denmark and Sweden.

Phillip admitted that the vocal support had helped rally England for their dramatic injury-time winner against Finland in their group opener.

And the 28-year-old is keen to build on the promising start against a Denmark side ranked seven places above England at number seven in the world in their next game.

England beat the Danes in a friendly in February last year and while Phillip expects a different approach from Denmark this time, England know that victory on Wednesday night will take them into the semi-finals.

"The players were disappointed about the performance on Sunday but excited about the result and getting the three points," Phillip added.

"Getting the points was the most important thing and the performance is something we can look at as the tournament goes along.

"I think everyone is aware that if we can get one more win from our last two games then we are half-way there."