Suzanne Wrack's match report
Jill Scott speaks: “I’ve been overwhelmed by all the messages but I’ve been trying to concentrate on the game,” says the woman who earned her 150th cap today. She goes on to congratulate Ebony Salmon, Ella Toone and Lotte Wubben-Moy on making their debuts.
Full-time: England 6-0 Northern Ireland
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeep! It’s all over at St George’s Park, where England have given Northern Ireland a lesson. Ellen White sacored a hat-trick and was joined on the scoresheet by Lauren Hemp, Rachel Daly and Ella Toone on a good day for England’s women.
90+3 min: England play keep-ball for the closing minutes and win themselves a free-kick. Rebecca McKenna is booked for her clumsy challenge. The ball’s lumped forward and Becky Flaherty grabs Bethany England’s looping header.
90+2 min: Another free-kick for Northern Ireland is clipped to the edge of the England penalty area. Steph Houghton heads clear.
90 min: Rachel Furness wins a free-kick for Northern Ireland over near the dug-outs, drawing a foul from Lucy Bronze. Toni Leigh-Finnigan lumps the ball into the England penalty area but it sails straight towards goalkeeper Sandy Maciver.
89 min: Lotte Wubben-Moy is penalised for a foul on the halfway line and Northern Ireland get a free-kick, only to give the ball away again.
87 min: Jill Scott appeals for a free-kick just outside the Northern Ireland penalty area, claiming obstruction after running into an opponent. She doesn’t get one.
84 min: Ebony Salmon joins Ella Toone and Lotte Wubben-Moy in making her England debut, replacing Rachel Daly. Northern Ireland bring on three more substitutes: Samantha Kelly, Toni Leigh Finnigan and Kelsie Burrows.
81 min: Into the final 10 minutes we go, with England showing little or no sign of taking their foot off the pedal. It’s been a walk in St George’s Park for them today against an extreemely limited but game Northern Ireland side. It’s difficult to know how much interim coach Hege Riise will learn from today’s outing.
80 min: Georgia Stanway advances to the edge of the Northern Ireland penalty area and unleashes a shot. Her effort sails wide of the left upright.
77 min: A couple more substitutions for England: Bethany England and Lotte Wubben-Moy replace Ellen White and Leah Williamson.
GOAL! England 6-0 Northern Ireland (Toone 75pen)
Toone recovers sufficiently to send Northern Ireland goalkeeper Becky Flaherty the wrong way and stroke home a confident spot-kick after referee Lorraine Watson had spotted a foul on the edge of the penalty area that escaped this useless commentator’s attention.
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73 min: England substitute Ella Toone has pulled up lame and looks like she might have pulled a muscle in her back or thigh. She’s walking very gingerly but soldiering on.
73 min: Northern Ireland win themselves a corner, their first of the game. The delivery isn’t great and England clear at the near post.
71 min: England go close from the corner, but Northern Ireland survive.
69 min: Daly intercepts a kamikaze pass across the Irish backline towards Julie Nelson in the right-back position. She darts forward with the ball at her feet, attempts to square it for Stanway and wins a corner.
GOAL! England 5-0 Northern Ireland (Daly 68)
Rachel Daly gets on the scoresheet, tapping in at the near post to convert a cross from the right.
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67 min: “Fantastic start for Hege Riise in her first start as coach,” writes Tor. “Is there a small possibility for her to become permanent coach for the English team?” No, there isn’t, Tor. Sarina Wiegman will be taking over in September when her contract with the Netherlands expires.
65 min: Stanway plays Rachel Daly in behind and she clips the foot of the upright with her low diagonal effort. Offside.
64 min: Georgia Stanway curls a wonderful ball from deep into the path of Ellen White, but Becky Flaherty is quick off her line to deny the striker another shooting opportunity.
63 min: A tidy near post finish from Ellen White is ruled out for offside.
60 min: England double-substitution: Hege Riise rings the changes. Goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck makes way for Sandy Maciver after a very quiet day at the office. Lauren Hemp is replaced by her Manchester City team-mate Chloe Kelly.
59 min: A good, patient England build-up goes awry when Abbie Magee beats Lauren Hemp to a through ball and clears.
57 min: Northern Ireland double-substitution: Rebecca McKenna and Ciara Watling on for Chloe McCarron and Marissa Callaghan.
55 min: Northern Ireland win a throw-in deep in the England half. Moments later, Rachel Furness loses the ball to Georgia Stanway, who gallops downfield with the ball at her feet. Sarah McFadden clears for the Irish.
54 min: Julie Nelson clears a Georgia Stanway cross from the right to give her team temporary respite.
52 min: England substitute Ella Toone tries her luck from distance. Wide.
51 min: Northern Ireland win a free-kick and Chloe McCarron’s delivery into the England penalty area is excellent. There’s nobody on hand to divert the ball goalwards and the ball bounces wide.
GOAL! England 4-0 Northern Ireland (White 48)
A hat-trick for Ellen White. It’s three on the day and 39 in an England shirt for Ellen White. She turns Julie Nelson on the edge of the Northern Ireland penalty area to run on to a through ball from Jill Scott and slots the ball into the bottom corner.
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48 min: Ella Toone threads a terrific through-ball into the Northern Ireland penalty area, but Ellen White is unable to convert the chance.
47 min: Northern Ireland pick up where they left off, giving the ball away just outside their own penalty area. They get away with it, but only just ... a last ditch tackle prevening Lauren Hemp from scoring.
Second half: England 3-0 Northern Ireland
Second half: Play resumes, with England playing into the strong wind in this second half. Will the elements affect their dominance? Manchester United’s Ella Toone is on for her England debut in place of Jordan Nobbs. Congratulations to her.
Half-time: England 3-0 Northern Ireland
Peep! It’s half-time at St George’s Park, where England are comfortably ahead courtesy of an Ellen White brace and a goal from Lucy Bronze. Northern Ireland have been charitable, repeatedly gifting possession to their hosts and getting punished accordingly.
44 min: Northern Ireland gift possession to England halfway inside their own half again. They’re really not making life easy for themselves.
42 min: Becky Flaherty denies Ellen White her hat-trick, diving low to her left to keep out a low effort from the edge of the penalty area.
41 min: As we approach half-time, England are completely in the ascendency. It’s no great surprise, as they’re full-time professionals and most of Northern Ireland’s players are semi-pros with proper jobs. Indeed, a couple of their players were unavailable for selection today because of work commitments.
38 min: Jill Scott tries to run on to a weighted pass from deep but the ball rolls into the hands of Northern Ireland goalkeeper Becky Flaherty.
35 min: Northern Ireland skipper Marissa Callaghan fouls Jill Scott and England get a free-kick on the right flank. Jordan Nobbs’ delivery to the near post is sublime, but Lauren Hemp skims her diving header wide.
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33 min: Rebecca Holloway dispossesses Rachel Daly with an excellent tackle as the England winger cantered down the right flank. She’d been played in behind the NMorthern Ireland defence by Jill Scott, who capitalised on some poor Northern Ireland passing to win the ball in midfield. Northern Ireland clear the subsequent corner.
31 min: Another good cross from Lauren Hemp out on the left flank for England, but it’s a mite too high for Ellen White. She stretches every sinew as she tries to get her head to it.
GOAL! England 3-0 Northern Ireland (Bronze 29)
Lucy Bronze gets between two defenders to poke the ball home from close range after Lauren Hemp had squared it from the left. Atrocious defending from Northern Ireland.
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28 min: Lucy Bronze sends a cross arcing into the Northern Ireland box and Becky Flaherty flaps at it. She just about does enough to prevent the ball dropping into the goal.
26 min: On a rare foray into the England half, Nadene Caldwell wins a free-kick for her side after being felled by Georgia Stanway. Nothing comes of it and England are soon back in possession.
GOAL! England 2-0 Northern Ireland (White 23)
Ellen White scores her second of the game and her 38th for England. She stabs home at the near post after making a lung-busting run into the penalty area to convert a Lucy Bronze cross from the right.
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23 min: From a backpass, England goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck gets what I think is her first touch after a quarter of the game has elapsed.
22 min: On the touchline, Northern Ireland manager Kenny Shiels urges his charges to “relax”.
19 min: That goal was in the post and came from a Northern Ireland error. Not for the first time, they gave the ball away cheaply and Ellen White pounced to fire home.
GOAL! England 1-0 Northern Ireland (White 18)
England lead. Ellen White opens the scoring, putting England a goal up with a clinical finish.
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17 min: Rachel Daly drills a cross into the Northern Ireland penalty area from the right flank. Sarah McFadden puts it out for a corner. Jill Scott gets on the end of the ensuing inswinger but sends it wide.
15 min: A Flaherty clearance into the win drops kindl;y for Jill Scott, who advances towards the edge of the Northern Ireland penalty area. England are completely dominant here, helped in no small part by Northern Ireland’s inability to win their midfield battles and keep the ball.
14 min: Northern Ireland goalkeeper Becky Flaherty tries to lump a backpass long but her kick into the stiff breeze means the ball doesn’t travel too far.
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13 min: England’s Rachel Daly tries a shot from distance but slips as she connects with the ball. Her effort sails over the crossbar.
10 min: Northern Ireland are being kept on the back foot but are hanging in there for the time being. They keep playing the ball out from the back but aren’t particularly good at keeping possession of it.
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9 min: An excellent save from Flaherty, who reacts quickly to save a strong downward header from Lucy Bronze on the edge of the six-yard box. Alex Greenwood played an excellent ball into the box from deep and the header was strong, but Flaherty displayed the reflexes of a ninja.
8 min: Becky Flaherty is called into action again, darting off her line to gather a through ball played into the path of Rachel Daly.
7 min: Relentless pressure from England, who have a strong wind at their back. They’re passing the ball around crisply, looking for an opening.
5 min: Northern Ireland get out of their own half for the first time but England are soon on the attack again. Ellen White is put through on goal by a lovely weighted pass from Jill Scott but Northern Ireland goalkeeper is quick off her line to smother the ball at her feet. A corner for England, from which nothing comes.
3 min: Lucy Bronze pings a cross into the Northern Ireland penalty, where Ellen White is unable to steer her header goalwards. She got a little nudge in the back from Julie Nelson, which didn’t help her cause. No penalty is forthcoming.
2 min: Early pressure from England. Rachel Daly plays the ball right and wide to Lucy Bronze, who is promptly dispossessed by Rebecca McFadden.
1 min: Jill Scott gets an early touch, marauding forward in England’s first match for almost a year.
England v Northern Ireland is go ...
1 min: Northern Ireland get the ball rolling after both sets of players take a knee. Simone Magill does the honours.
The teams are out: There’s a strong wind blowing at St George’s Park as both sets of players emerge from the warmth of their respective dressing-rooms and line up for the National Anthems. Will they play God Save The Queen twice? No ... just the once.
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Pre-match presentation: Jill Scott is presented with a commemorative mounted jersey with the number 150 on the back ahead of kick-off.
England v Northern Ireland line-ups
England: Ellie Roebuck, Lucy Bronze, Alex Greenwood, Georgia Stanway, Steph Houghton, Leah WIl;liamson, Rachel Daly, Jill Scott, Ellen White, Jordan Nobbs, Lauren Hemp.
Northern Ireland: Becky Flaherty, Abbie Magee, Julie Nelson, Sarah McFadden, Rebecca Holloway, Chloe McCarron, Rachel Furness, Nadene Caldwell, Marissa Callaghan, Lauren Wade, Simone Magill.
Hege Riise: “As a coach, my style is to listen more than I speak,” England’s interim manager told a Fifa.com interviewer last year.
“I look to involve my players in decisions, to give them trust and also, I hope, some calmness to do their jobs. When I look back to the coaches who got the best out of me, I think I’m quite similar in my approach. I like close connections with my players, and to be open to chat – not only about coaching and football, but about everything.
“I feel like it’s my responsibility to bring something to each player I work with, and to develop them in some way. For me that’s what being a coach is. I’ve never had a problem relating to a player who doesn’t have the attributes I had as a player. Bringing out the best in players, whatever their skills are, is a challenge I really enjoy.”
Jill Scott wins her 150th cap today
The magnificent Mackem will skipper England on the milestone occasion of her 150th cap today. Suzy Wrack sat down with her for a chat in the build-up to today’s game.
Teams!
🤩 TEAM NEWS 🤩@JillScottJS8 captains the #Lionesses on her 1️⃣5️⃣0️⃣th cap! 👏 pic.twitter.com/BXd51kAMxY
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) February 23, 2021
🙌 Here's how we line up against @Lionesses #GAWA #GameChangersNI pic.twitter.com/mJBfwFS7SZ
— Northern Ireland (@NorthernIreland) February 23, 2021
International friendly: England v Northern Ireland
The plush England HQ of St George’s Park is the venue for England women’s first match in almost a year as they host their counterparts from Northern Ireland in a lunchtime friendly.
When last they gathered, England were managed by Phil Neville, who has since moved on to pastures new in Miami following a fairly mediocre and underwhelming spell in charge of England’s brave Lionesses, so today’s game marks the first appearance of interim coach Hege Riise in the technical area.
One of the best footballers of her generation, the 51-year-old Norwegian has been put in temporary charge of England until Neville’s successor, Sarina Wiegman, takes up the cudgels when her current contract with the Netherlands expires in the Autumn.
Today’s match is Northern Ireland’s only scheduled friendly between now and their Euro 2022 play-off against as yet unknown opposition in April, and will give their manager Kenny Shiels an excellent opportunity to run the rule over his side as they face comparatively stiff opposition. Kick-off in today’s game is at 12.30pm (GMT) but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
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