Williamson returns but Lionesses still struggle

FOR 45 minutes there was a comforting sense of familiarity about England’s performance against the Republic of Ireland last night.

In control and clinical, it was a display more akin to the type we expect from the European champions than the one we saw in the underwhelming draw against Sweden last Friday. The second half was less convincing. Had Ireland taken their chances, they could have come away with a vital point. In the end, England’s first-half performance was enough. A moment of quality from Lauren James, who opened the scoring in the 12th minute, and a penalty from Alex Greenwood, who later missed a second from the spot, sealed victory. It leaves them second in their Euro 2025 qualifying group, behind leaders France who have won both of their opening games. Sarina Wiegman will have concerns about how difficult her side made it for themselves at times here, but one pleasing aspect of last night’s win was the return of captain Leah Williamson, who made her first international appearance in nearly a year after rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament. Wearing the captain’s armband, she was probably the Lionesses’ best player on the pitch. England took the lead after 12 minutes when the hosts failed to clear Keira Walsh’s cross. The ball dropped to James and the forward hit a superb first-time finish into the bottom left corner. Six minutes later Jess Park’s volley struck the hand of Ruesha Littlejohn and referee Lina Lehtovaara pointed to the spot. Greenwood made no mistake. England were awarded a second penalty, again for handball, but this time Greenwood’s effort hit the post and bounced wide.