Everton Women manager Willie Kirk has backed goalkeeper Sandy MacIver to be installed as England number one after her FA Cup final showing against Manchester City.
Lionesses manager Phil Neville was in attendance as MacIver made several impressive saves to keep Everton - who eventually succumbed to a 3-1 extra-time defeat - in the game opposite City and England first-choice Ellie Roebuck.
Roebuck was at fault for Valerie Gauvin's second-half equaliser and Kirk, who brought MacIver back to England in January after she played college football in the United States of America, believes his shot-stopper deserves to be installed as number one.
"She was outstanding from start to finish," he said of MacIver at Wembley. "Outstanding. She took knocks and did everything she did to keep the ball out.
"Sometimes it wasn't pretty, sometimes it was even a punch or a slap, like a cross where she was at full stretch, but she was outstanding today. For me, she's England's number one."
He also told his Everton players he was 'immensely proud' of the performance they put in at Wembley as he backed them for a swift return to competing for honours.
"We'll be back here," Kirk said. "The players will be determined to do that and we'll help them make sure of that.
"I said to them after the game I would never cap their potential. They have an incredible amount of potential. We'll continue to get support off the club, especially after that performance. The club were proud of that performance. We just fell short."
Kirk added: "They gave everything they had in the tank and I'm very proud."
"There has to be a loser. You never want to be that loser but in terms of what we did on the pitch, I'm immensely proud of the players, the staff and the club today but it will inspire us to come back."
Goalkeeper MacIver was in-line to make her England debut during the previous international break but the fixture against Germany was cancelled after a member of England's backroom team contracted coronavirus.
