Beth Mead: I'm in the form of my life

The numbers show it and after the emphatic 8-0 win over Norway she said: Beth Mead is in the form of her life.

Mead became just the second player in Lionesses history to score a hat-trick in a UEFA Women’s EUROs on Monday night, following on from Jodie Taylor five years ago.

With another three goals and an assist at Brighton and Hove Albion’s stadium, Mead has been directly involved in 29 goals during Sarina Wiegman’s 16 matches in charge, bagging 18 and creating another 11 assists.

Mead was one of five goalscorers on the night as the Lionesses’ ensured they would win Group A regardless of Friday night’s result with Northern Ireland, due to the head-to-head records in the opening matches.

When asked if Mead felt like she was in the form of her life, the striker replied: “Yes it does. I keep saying it: I’m really enjoying my football; I love being a part of this team. Honestly it is an incredible feeling to feel like I do right now. 

“I don’t think I even dreamt of this [a hat-trick in a home EUROs]. But I am just so happy that I could get the goals to help the team. 

“It is an unbelievable night. I can’t believe it.”

The goal during the 1-0 victory over Austria means Mead is already on four goals for the tournament but she added: "I haven’t even thought about it [the Golden Boot]. I just want to get the goals to help us win.

"The girls need to enjoy this one. These are the moments we need to enjoy."

Georgia Stanway’s penalty on 12 minutes was the first goal on a memorable night for the Lionesses, as Lauren Hemp also found the net, and Ellen White and Mead both bagged braces inside the first half.

Substitute Alessia Russo scored her first goal at a senior major tournament after the hour mark and the victory was rounded off by Mead in the final ten minutes.

The emphatic victory made the Lionesses the first team in European Championship history – both in the men’s and women’s game – to score more than six goals in a single match and 8-0 made it the biggest winning margin.

It also means England remain unbeaten since Wiegman took charge in September, with 14 wins and two draws coming via 93 goals scored and just three conceded.

"We didn't expect to get such a big win as we did but we played really well, we really exploited their weaknesses.

"Norway didn’t have answers on our game, they didn't get press on us and we played really well and created and scored chances and it was very enjoyable to watch.

"Games can go really strange. We've seen so many games be 3-0 and it goes 3-3 and it changes but when it became 4-0 and 5-0, I thought, yeah, we're not going to give that away.

"Games develop and I think Norway didn't play their best game today and we played very well. This was really good and we're really happy with the performance because we showed how good we are.

"We have to do better and better every game."