Fearless Furness (Rachel Furness interview)

Sunderland midfielder Rachel Furness, whose all-in style has fans comparing her to Lee Cattermole, speaks days after the Black Cats sealed the WSL 2 title at The Den. She is in no hurry to come back down to earth, stopping every so often to remind herself she is a league champion. The celebrations were more muted than expected, she says, after seven months of pre-season and a uniquely long transitional campaign. Furness describes playing through the pain barrier at Millwall, where her header settled nerves, and picks out goals at Watford, Reading and Doncaster as her most important. A serious knee injury in 2006 once threatened her career, and she now manages her body around Northern Ireland duty, describing herself as semi-retired internationally on 48 caps.