England beat Australia 3-0 at Pride Park: Match Report.

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This evening, the England Lionesses took on the Australian Matildas, for the first time since the Women’s World Cup 2023! This friendly match took place at Pride Park Stadium in Derby and ended with England securing a victory, beating Australia 3-0. Here is a report on the whole match.

Starting XI’s:

England: Hampton, Bronze, Hinds, Walsh (C), Le Tissier, Morgan, Mead, Kendall, Russo, Toone, Beever-Jones.

Australia: Arnold, Heatley, Hunt, Catley, Foord, Kennedy, Sayer, Gorry, Kerr (C), Carpenter, Cooney-Cross.

England’s Taylor Hinds and Lucia Kendall both made their senior debuts this evening, marking a memorable night for the pair.

The match kicked off at 19:00 (GMT) with England starting on the front foot. Within the early opening minutes, Ella Toone and Aggie Beever-Jones both had early efforts on goal, showing England’s intent to take control right from the start.

In the 12th minute, Aggie Beever-Jones thought she’d opened the scoring for England after slotting the ball past the Australian keeper, Mackenzie Arnold. However, the flag instantly went up and the goal was ruled out for offside, leaving England still searching for that early breakthrough.

Disaster struck for Australia in the 18th minute when Alanna Kennedy was shown a red card after bringing down Alessia Russo as she broke through on goal. England were awarded a penalty but the initial spot kick was blocked. However, Aggie Beever-Jones reacted quickest to the rebound, firing it home to put England 1–0 up and this time, the goal stood.

England kept up the pressure after taking the lead, trying their luck with several long-range efforts. Their confidence grew as they looked to stretch Australia’s defence and test the keeper from distance.

On her full senior debut, Taylor Hinds hasn’t been tested much defensively but she showed good composure when needed, slowing down Ellie Carpenter’s dangerous run down the right and helping keep Australia’s attack at bay.

Australia were their own worst enemy, repeatedly giving the ball away and allowing England to dominate possession. Their mistakes let the Lionesses maintain relentless pressure and create a string of chances.

Lucy Bronze marked her birthday in style, curling a beautifully weighted shot into the net in the 40th minute to double England’s lead before the halftime whistle blew!

At halftime, the Lionesses were comfortably in control, 2–0 up. They had dominated possession, capitalised on the extra player and looked far more dangerous than they had against Brazil on Saturday, leaving the Matildas struggling to create any meaningful chances.

The second half got underway with one change for England, after her goal and assist in the first half, Lucy Bronze was replaced by Chelsea teammate Niamh Charles who came on to replace her, bringing fresh energy to England’s defence.

England made a flurry of changes as the second half progressed. Ella Toone was replaced by Missy Bo Kearns in midfield, while Georgia Stanway came on for Keira Walsh. Alessia Russo was substituted for Michelle Agyemang, and Taylor Hinds came off and was replaced by Alex Greenwood.

Australia hadn’t made any substitutions until later, when captain Sam Kerr was replaced by Hayley Raso and was given the armband, Amy Sayer by Clare Wheeler, and Steph Catley by Charlotte Grant.

The game paused around the 74th minute as England players showed visible concern. Michelle Agyemang went down, surrounded by teammates, and medics rushed on with a stretcher. The home crowd fell silent as she was taken off, despite it being a non-contact knee incident. Manager Sarina Wiegman looked worried and Chloe Kelly came on to replace Agyemang.

Following this, a few moments later Aggie Beever-Jones came off after limping, leaving both teams down to ten players. It’s rare for a match to drop to 10v10 and with no substitutions remaining, both sides had to dig deep to see the game out under challenging circumstances.

At the 90th minute, the fourth official signalled six minutes of added time, giving both teams a final window to make an impact.

Two more subs for Australia as Caitlin Foord, who is booked for not making way on the far side as instructed, and Kyra Cooney-Cross, are replaced by Remy Siemsen and Jamilla Rankin.

In stoppage time, Katrina Gorry slid in on Missy Bo Kearns and the referee had to check the footage which resulted in awarding England a penalty. Georgia Stanway stepped up and calmly sent it into the back of the net, securing a 3–0 victory for the Lionesses. Mackenzie Arnold had moved off her line early, allowing Stanway to slot it in without hesitation.