The Lionesses made a winning start to their Euro U19 Elite Round qualifiers on Wednesday with a 3-0 victory over hosts Turkey in Mangavat.
Mo Marley’s side are aiming to become the seventh England team this season to reach the finals of their respective competition, with only the team who finish top of this week’s group progressing to the Euro Finals in Northern Ireland.
And they made a good start as quickfire first-half strikes from Zoe Cross and Ellie Brazil set them on their way to picking up three points.
The opener came after Mollie Rouse did well to win possession in midfield and the ball was worked forward, before Cross broke through to slide a tidy finish home inside the box.
Brazil then latched onto a pass down the right and burst into the area, holding off a defender and then slotting a low shot past the keeper with her left foot to double the advantage at half time.
But despite controlling possession and looking to add to their tally, England had to settle for just one more goal after the break when substitute Georgia Stanway collected a pass in the area before drilling a low shot into the far corner with just over ten minutes remaining.
The Lionesses will be in action again on Friday, when they face Denmark at the same venue and kicking-off at 10am BST before they finish their games against Czech Republic on Monday 10 April.
England: 1 Sandy McIver, 2 Anna Patten, 4 Mollie Rouse, 5 Grace Fisk (c), 6 Megan Finnigan, 7 Chloe Kelly, 8 Georgia Allen, 9 Ellie Brazil, 10 Zoe Cross, 15 Taylor Hinds, 17 Alessia Russo
Substitutes: 12 Georgia Stanway for Cross 65, 11 Rinsola Babajide for Kelly 65
Substitutes not used: 13 Ellie Roebuck, 3 Mayumni Pacheco, 14 Chloe Peplow, 16 Samantha Tierney, 18 Rianna Dean
Head coach: Mo Marley
Goals: Zoe Cross 19, Ellie Brazil 22, Georgia Stanway 77
Another goal for our young #Lionesses as @StanwayGeorgia extends the lead in our opening #WU19EURO qualifier! https://t.co/jhCSyZqyiq
— #Lionesses (@Lionesses) April 5, 2017
