Perth star Evans insists Scotland can bounce back at Euros -

euro 2017: Dark Blues tipped to ‘go all guns blazing’ against Portugal after England loss

Scotland will go “all guns blazing” at Portugal as Anna Signeul’s crestfallen team attempt to salvage their Women’s European Championship campaign, according to Perth’s Lisa Evans.

The Scots suffered a chastening 6-0 defeat to England in Utrecht on Wednesday evening – a match they hoped would deliver a dream result turned instead into a nightmare occasion.

Now they must regroup and put the misery of their big tournament debut behind them, knowing they can still qualify for the knockout stage if they get it right against Portugal on Sunday and then Spain next Wednesday.

Evans admitted the thrashing by England had been painful to experience.

“Without a doubt. We had bigger plans coming into that game but we came up against a very strong England side,” Evans said.

“England came out and said before this tournament that they want to win the tournament and you saw that: the difference was massive, it was a really good England side.”

New Arsenal recruit Evans, who joined the Gunners from Bayern Munich, is not giving up hope of the Scots reviving their campaign.

“It’s not gone yet. We’ll definitely bounce back from this and be right up for it in the second game against Portugal, without a doubt,” Evans said.

“We need to go all guns blazing and go for that win. We’ve obviously had difficult results in the past and this is one that we’ll be trying to put behind us. We’ll try to take as much as we can from the game and carry it into the second game, just really try to turn ourselves back around again.

“We’ve been focusing a lot on England, and taking each match as it comes, so we’ll do a lot of homework on Portugal in the next few days.”

Portugal were beaten 2-0 by Spain in their opener on Wednesday, rarely threatening the Spanish goal.

“In the past they’ve been a really defensively strong side and they’ve got good individual qualities,” Evans said.

“We didn’t see any of the Spain game but we’ll catch up on it and analyse that now.”

Scotland manager Signeul had spoken before the England game of how a victory would represent the biggest success of her career.

Now she is bound to consider changes for the Portugal game, which takes place in Rotterdam, given how easily Scotland were carved open by England’s front three.

And Signeul may make a change out of necessity, with Scotland’s star striker Jane Ross substituted due to a shoulder injury against England and taken to hospital for checks.

That added to the woes Scotland suffered in the build-up to the finals, with their world-class playmaker Kim Little ruled out of the tournament by a serious knee problem and defender Jennifer Beattie also forced out by injury.

“I think that we just need to pick ourselves up from this,” Signeul said.

We’ve obviously had difficult games in the past and this is one that we’ll be trying to put behind us.

Picture: PA. Scotland players are consoled by manager Anna Signeul after the 6-0 defeat.