Aggie Beever-Jones, Lucy Bronze and Georgia Stanway fired England to a 3-0 friendly victory over Australia at Pride Park in their homecoming series.
Beever-Jones put England ahead from a 20th-minute rebound strike after her initial free-kick struck the wall, just a minute after Australia’s Alanna Kennedy was red carded for a reckless tackle on Alessia Russo to deny her a goalscoring opportunity.
Bronze doubled a 41st-minute finish from Ella Toone’s cutback pass, before Stanway dispatched a 98th-minute penalty to wrap up a dominant victory for England after Katrina Gorry fouled Missy Bo Kearns.
The Lionesses’ dominant display however was marred by a serious knee injury to substitute, Michelle Agyemang.
England manager, Sarina Wiegman post-match explained to ITV4 post match that her squad had learned from their defeat to Brazil in how to play against ten players, and was impressed at how they responded with such dominance.
“Of course, we wanted to dominate the game and early in the game, a player was sent off for them and they go down to 10. We had a lesson the other day on how to do it against 10, so we wanted to keep up the pace of the game, create chances and harm them.
“I think we were OK on the ball but we can do better, especially in the final third, be tighter on the ball, be aligned a little more, make better decisions, then we could’ve scored a little bit more. Overall, we were solid when we didn’t have the ball, I thought.”
Following England’s sloppy defeat to Brazil, Wiegman made five changes which included debuts for Taylor Hinds and Lucia Kendall, in a move which sparked fresh intensity as England pressed forward with Ella Toone and Bronze unluckily denied in the opening six minutes.
Beever-Jones briefly broke the deadlock after she chipped in over Mackenzie Arnold from Beth Mead’s through ball, although the goal was disallowed due to the forward’s offside position as Ellie Carpenter deflected the pass into her path.
Australia struggled to get to grip with England’s aggressive press which eventually drew frustration from Kennedy as she mis controlled her 18th-minute dribble, which Russo intercepted but was immediately fouled by Kennedy who was consequently red carded bang on the 19th minute.
England subsequently took advantage of the free-kick as Beever-Jones initially struck the wall but the rebound fell back to her feet, which allowed her to smash her second attempt straight into the top-left corner to put the Lionesses in front.
Hinds, Russo, Keira Walsh, Ella Toone and Bronze put further chances wide as England attempted to extend their lead before half-time.
Australia’s best chance of the first half came in from Carpenter’s 28th-minute low by-line cross to Sam Kerr but the striker’s shot was blocked by Hannah Hampton at the right post.
England eventually doubled their lead before half time as neat play up the right eventually fell for Toone to cut back into the box, with Bronze left to sweep her shot into the bottom-left corner in the 41st minute on her 34th birthday.
Wiegman’s Lionesses continued to build momentum as they dominated the early stages of the second half as Hinds and Beever-Jones put chances wide, whilst Kendall saw a potential debut goal deflected wide in the 60th minute.
Substitute, Michelle Agyemang nodded Mead’s 67th-minute cross wide, before the latter five minutes later teed up Georgia Stanway whose shot was punched away by Arnold.
Agyemang however went down with a serious knee injury in the 75th minute and had to be stretchered off, just moments after Beever-Jones’ shot was saved as she met Kendall’s pass into the box.
England eventually finished a woman down after Beever-Jones was forced off in the 84th-minute with a minor injury,
Australia’s evening however finished on a sour note after Gorry fouled Kearns, which allowed Stanway to rifle the consequential penalty into the top-right corner to wrap up England’s victory.
What’s Next?
England conclude 2025 with home friendlies as they host China PR at Wembley Stadium, London, on Saturday 29 November at 5:30pm GMT, followed by a clash against Ghana on Tuesday 2 December at 7pm at St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton.
Australia meet New Zealand in a Trans-Tasman derby double-header on 28 November and 2 December, with the Aussies hosting their Kiwi neighbours in Gosford and Adelaide on the above dates respectively.
Teams
England: Hannah Hampton, Maya Le Tissier, Lucy Bronze (Charles 46′), Esme Morgan, Taylor Hinds (Greenwood 62′), Keira Walsh (Stanway 62′), Lucia Kendall, Beth Mead, Ella Toone (Kearns 62′), Aggie Beever-Jones, Alessia Russo (Agyemang 62′, Kelly 80′)
Substitutes: Michelle Agyemang, Laura Blindkilde Brown, Jess Carter, Niamh Charles, Grace Fisk, Alex Greenwood, Missy Bo Kearns, Khiara Keating, Chloe Kelly, Anna Moorhouse, Jess Naz, Georgia Stanway
Australia: Mackenzie Arnold, Wini Heatley, Caitlin Foord (Siemsen 93′), Alanna Kennedy, Clare Hunt, Katrina Gorry, Steph Catley (Grant 70′), Amy Sayer (Raso 70′), Ellie Carpenter, Kyra Cooney-Cross (Rankin 92′), Sam Kerr (Wheeler 70′)
Substitutes: Morgan Aquino, Charli Grant, Michelle Heyman, Holly McNamara, Teagan Micah, Courtney Nevin, Jamilla Rankin, Hayley Raos, Remy Siemsen, Kaitlyn Torpey, Cortnee Vine, Clare Wheeler
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