Stanway reflects on second-half show

Georgia Stanway added two more goals to her tally in Tuesday’s 6-1 win over Ukraine, to take her into the top ten England women’s goalscorers.

After a goalless first half in Antalya, the Lionesses scored six in the second period started by a brace from Alessia Russo before Stanway netted a spot-kick and then added another from long range to take her England tally to 31.

The scoring was rounded off by Jess Park, who scored two herself to kick-start the new FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying campaign in style.

“It was good, although the first half was a little bit difficult,” said Stanway.

“Obviously they sat back, it made us move the ball fast, try and get into the gaps that they’re leaving. But the first half was really tough because we wanted to break them down.

“They were in a low block and we knew that second half we would get our chances and we just had to put them away. We needed a little bit more quality from the first half in the final third and I think we got that in the second half.”

The Lionesses will now head home for Saturday’s game with Iceland in Nottingham, where they’ll play in front of a sold-out crowd at the City Ground.

And the Bayern Munich ace reserved special praise for the 250 fans who made the trip out to Turkiye for Tuesday’s game.

“Our fans are so special,” she added.

“We’re so grateful for the efforts that they put in and travelling around the world, supporting us. We actually had some people from the hotel here as well.

“The tickets were free today which makes it extra special as well because we can give back.”