In the end it was an all too familiar story: England chasing a game against Germany, pulling goals back to give themselves hope before losing belief. The England women's team are in good company.

They went into this match, the final of the 2009 European Championship, as the underdogs and they knew it. They had never beaten the Germans, who were defending champions having lifted the trophy when the tournament was held in England four years ago.

Hope Powell's England side started well in Helsinki but fell behind after 20 minutes when Birgit Prinz finished off a neat move. They doubled their advantage just 120 seconds later with a stunning long-range effort from Melanie Behringer.

That left England with it all to do. They quickly got back in the game, however, through the forward Karen Carney. She turned the ball home after a mazy run from Kelly Smith to the byline, the Boston Breakers midfielder drew the home defenders to her and her ball across goal could have been turned in by any one of three England players.

Carney almost levelled before the break with a looping header that was cleared off the line, but the Three Lionesses were dealt a huge blow early in the second-half when Kim Kulig smashed the ball home after a goalmouth scramble - the ball rebounded off a post, ran across the entire goal and into her path.

This England side has more heart than some former ones, and when Smith pulled one back after an impressive turn and shot in the area they still had hope. At 3-2 the game was still anyones.

At least it was until Inka Grings got ahead of Faye White, the England captain who was sporting a face mask to protect a fractured cheekbone, to restore the two-goal advantage.

That was the decisive blow for England, who now lost a grip on the game as Germany sensed their name was on the trophy once more.

Germany now had the freedom of the park and it was no great surprise that Grings and Prinz struck again. Grings' goal in particular was a result of sloppy defending from an England defence that was disheartened by their impending defeat.

Although the England side walked off the pitch looking dejected, they can hold their heads up high having reached the final of a major tournament and not being outclassed by one of the best team's in the world.