BASILDON's Carly Waters has helped Great Britain's women's footballers to a bronze medal in the recent Deaflympics event in Australia.

The squad took their medal with a 2-1 extra time win over Denmark in the third-place play-off at the end of a gruelling tournament.

And it was a pair of fine saves from Chelmsford Ladies' keeper Waters in the dying stages of that game which confirmed the Brits would take home some reward from a demanding sequence of seven games in 14 days.

With the team clinging on to their 2-1 advantage she made a fine block from Caroline Hansen's free kick, then recovered brilliantly to turn away a follow-up shot as the Danes swarmed towards the goal.

They had to battle hard against Denmark, who took a 65th-minute lead before GB hit back through Catherine Hammill's free kick.

That took the match to extra time, where Hammill grabbed what proved to be the winning goal.

Earlier in the tournament - a deaf equivalent of the Paralympics - GB came second in the six-strong group, trailling to eventual winners USA.

The Americans were the only team to beat them, winning the final group match 3-0, but wins over Norway (3-1), Denmark (1-0) and hosts Australia (5-0), plus a 3-3 draw with Russia, were enough to put Waters and her team-mates through.

Russia edged out Team GB in a penalty shoot-out in the semi-finals, following a 2-2 draw.

The team's success has come despite a lack of sponsorship and funding which saw players having to raise £1,500 of their own money for the trip Down Under.

Britain's 100-strong team came back with five gold, five silver and five bronze from the Melbourne games.