BURNLEY-born goalkeeper Rachel Brown has been warned she is not assured of a starting role for England at Turf Moor later this week.

Brown, 23, is keeping her fingers crossed to play on her home ground as the nation's women take on Australia as part of their preparations for the 2005 European Championships in this country.

But Women's coach Hope Powell OBE is keeping her cards close to her chest ahead of the first ever meeting between the two countries on Thursday night (7.15pm KO).

Powell said: "I appreciate Rachel is from Burnley, but at the end of the day, that doesn't mean she will be automatically selected.

"We have three very good goalkeepers and we are looking towards 2005 and everybody knows that.

"Pauline Cope has been in the game a long time and has good experience, while Rachel is doing very well and we also have Karen Bardsley.

"It has benefited Rachel being back in this country and playing week in and week out. I have had a couple of reports on her in the past two games and, certainly when Everton played against Arsenal, she was the one that earned them a point.

"So potentially it's quite nice that there are a lot of goalkeepers coming through now and while I recognise that Rachel is a local girl, that does not mean she is going to get selected."

Powell praised Burnley Football Club for their hospitality and hinted that a successful evening could see East Lancashire hosting more Women's football in the 2005 tournament.

She added: "We had Turf Moor looked at beforehand and were very pleased. Burnley Football Club have been magnificent and we are really excited about playing there because it's nice to come this far north."