FOOTBALLER Jake Brown still has a slender hope of heading to the Rio Paralympics despite missing out on final selection.

The Great Britain door has been left open for the England cerebral palsy soccer ace after he was named as a reserve for the Games in September.

Now Brown is waiting for that all-important phone call to see if he gets the thumbs-up to travel to South America. But that will only happen if one of the players picked to travel becomes unavailable because of injury or ill-health.

In the meantime Barrow-born Brown will continue to put himself through training sessions, just in case that late call-up comes.

The 20-year-old remains upbeat, and should he miss out for Rio he is already focusing on a trip to Argentina next year when England compete in the World Championships.

The Askam footballer admitted to being ‘gutted’ upon discovering he had failed to make the cut for the Paralympics and said: “I just missed out.

“I got the position of reserve so if someone gets injured or becomes ill I will be first to take their place.

“Obviously I am gutted not to get selected after working so hard, but it is what it is and you have just got to deal with it.”

The trainee accountant was told of the news last month after working hard to get the nod. But as he added: “There is still a chance of me going but I am not getting my hopes up.

“I am going to keep on training in the event that something does happen. But I have got my mindset on it that I am not going.”

Brown said he was told that in the past two Paralympics players had been injured and a reserve was used and was told to remain alert, should such a similar opportunity come along.

“I will bear it in mind and keep on training to make sure I am fit if I am called upon, but, for me the door is closed,” he added.

“At first it was a bit of hard pill to swallow. I accepted it and have started working even harder now to prove them wrong and to come back stronger and better.”

Brown was picked for the opening provisional GB squad which was whittled down to around 30 players last autumn and then further reduced to 19. The squad was further cut to 16, with Brown still in with a chance, but just failed to get over the final hurdle of a 14-man party.

Brown has shone for the Three Lions since being selected and made an impact in the Cerebral Palsy World Championships last summer, where he netted four goals.

“I have got to focus on the things that I have done rather than the things that I won’t get to do, but I am also 20-years-old,” he said.

“There are other tournaments in the future that I can play in with being so young.”

Brown has had talks with his international manager who has told him he wants the player to remain in the England frame.

“He sees a future for me with England after the Paralympics, so I have just got to focus on that,” added Brown.

“It is not like I am stopping now and thinking ‘that’s it’ and go onto the next thing.

“But I have got to make sure I am in the best physical and mental condition going into Argentina not just to get in the team but put down a platform and saying this is the level I want to play at.”

Left-footed player Brown, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was nine months old, became involved with the England set-up following a conversation between his dad Mike Brown, the former Barrow AFC player, and Tony Callister, chairman of Barrow Borough Sports Council.

That chat led to one of the England CP coaches, Tony Elliott, running the rule over the former Dowdales School pupil before he was invited to train with the national squad.

Brown has represented England in friendlies against the Netherlands, Scotland and the USA and he was part of the squad who competed in an international tournament in Barcelona in 2014, where England came up against Tunisia, Portugal and the USA.