{"id":584751,"date":"2021-02-23T10:53:27","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T15:53:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=584751"},"modified":"2021-02-23T10:53:27","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T15:53:27","slug":"england-women-hit-northern-ireland-for-six","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/02\/23\/england-women-hit-northern-ireland-for-six\/","title":{"rendered":"England Women Hit Northern Ireland for Six"},"content":{"rendered":"

The England Women made the perfect return to action after hitting Northern Ireland for six in Hege Riise<\/a>\u2019s first match as interim head coach.<\/p>\n

It was the first match in 354 days for the England Women, as Ellen White<\/a>\u2019s hat-trick and a goal each from Lucy Bronze<\/a>, Rachel Daly<\/a> and an Ella Toone<\/a>\u00a0penalty on her debut saw England cruise past Kenny Shiels\u2019 side.<\/p>\n

England Score Six Against Northern Ireland<\/h2>\n

An Impressive Milestone for Scott<\/h3>\n

Riise deployed a 4-2-3-1 formation and named eight Manchester City<\/a> players in her line up, which included Everton<\/a> loanee Jill Scott<\/a> for her 150th cap.<\/p>\n

Aside from Toone, Sander MacIver, Lotte Wubbon-Moy and Ebony Salmon<\/a> were all introduced from the bench to make their senior debuts.<\/p>\n

Much of the pre-match build-up to the game focused on Scott<\/a>\u00a0and the 34-year-old produced a commanding shift in central midfield to become only the second women\u2019s player to reach the 150-cap milestone after Fara Williams<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The experienced Scott was partnered in the centre of midfield by the youthful exuberance of Georgia Stanway<\/a>, and both were allowed plenty of freedom to dictate the pace of the game against a depleted Northern Ireland team.<\/p>\n

The gulf in class between the two nations was clearly apparent, and Northern Ireland had goalkeeper Becky Flaherty<\/a> to thank for keeping the score respectable.<\/p>\n

Flaherty prevented England from breaking the deadlock in the fifth minute when she was out quickly to thwart White, after being played through by Scott.<\/p>\n

Flaherty was called into action again to deny Bronze from Alex Greenwood<\/a>\u2019s free-kick, but she couldn\u2019t prevent the inevitable, as White scored the first of her three goals with 18 minutes played.<\/p>\n

The Man City striker took advantage of a sloppy backpass and clinically dispatched her close-range strike to break the deadlock, and added a second just five minutes later with a brilliant header from Bronze\u2019s cross.<\/p>\n

It was all one-way traffic and England were in cruise control when Bronze had the simplest of tap-ins from Lauren Hemp<\/a>\u2019s cross to make it 3-0 with under half an hour played.<\/p>\n

The City forward completed her hat-trick four minutes after the restart to take her tally up to 39 England goals, when she latched onto Scott\u2019s through ball and sent a clinical finish past Flaherty.<\/p>\n

She could have got a fourth after linking up well with City teammate Chloe Kelly<\/a>\u00a0but was denied by the linesman\u2019s flag after applying a lovely dinked finish into the net.<\/p>\n

Toone Impresses on Her Debut<\/h3>\n

Daly got in on the act herself in the 67th minute as Bronze claimed another assist, as the former tapped in from point-blank range to make it 5-0.<\/p>\n

Toone entered the fray ahead of the restart and made it a debut to remember after Chloe Holloway was penalised for pulling Kelly in the box, with the Lionesses subsequently awarded a penalty.<\/p>\n

The Manchester United<\/a> forward confidently sent Flaherty the wrong may to make it 6-0 and complete a thoroughly productive afternoon\u2019s work for Riise\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

The Lionesses now turn their attention to another friendly with Canada in April<\/a>, while Northern Ireland have the small matter of a Euro 2022 play-off to prepare for in the same month.<\/p>\n

Main Photo
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>