Beth Mead said her delight at crashing home her “best ever goal” was offset by the fact England were held to a 1-1 draw by Mexico on Saturday.
The Sunderland striker gave her side a first-half lead in the second group match of the FIFA Women’s U20 World Cup with a sumptuous 25-yard effort.
But the North Americans recovered to equalise after the break and leave Mo Marley’s side with two points from their opening two matches, after Wednesday’s draw with South Korea.
England 1-1 Mexico
FIFA Women's U20 World Cup
Group C
Saturday 9 August 2014
Moncton Stadium, Canada
Mead said: “Without a doubt it’s the best goal I’ve ever scored.
“I saw the keeper was off her line a little bit and I managed to catch it well enough. I guess it was just striker’s instinct.
“My phone has gone in to meltdown. It’s mental. I scored two goals in Finland and my phone went mad then, but it’s nothing like this. It's gone viral.”
Mead said she was disappointed with the result, believing England could have been more clinical in the opening 45 minutes.
The 19-year-old also admitted that they failed to adjust to the Mexicans’ second-half game plan.
She added: “We knew they would have to come at us in the second half and we didn’t adapt well enough to how high they were pressing up the pitch.
“We’ll have to improve on that aspect of our game.
“We didn’t create loads of clear cut chances in the first half but we still need to be more clinical. Some of that is down to decision making as well, maybe seeing if someone is in a better position or vice versa.
“We’d obviously have liked to have got the three points but it’s another learning curve for us.”
Mead’s attention has now shifted to the final group game in Edmonton.
Nigeria defeated South Korea in Saturday’s other Group C game, meaning England will probably have to claim three points against the Africans to progress to the quarter finals.
Mead said: “It’s a must-win game now. We know what we’ve got to do.
“The Mexico game has gone. Now it’s all about how we recover and prepare for Nigeria.
“We’re not in as comfortable a position as we’d like to be but it’s still in our hands and that’s the main thing.
“We should have beaten South Korea and should have scored more against Mexico when we were on top.
“We just need to improve on little things. We want to win the next game, qualify for the quarters and move on.”
