Taylor’s treble gets England off to a flier
ENGLAND thrashed sorry Scotland to lay down a marker at the Women’s European Championship last night and told their tournament rivals: ‘There’s more to come from us.’
The Lionesses had not won a major tournament opener in 12 years but Mark Sampson’s team stepped up to the plate with the biggest win of the Euros so far.
Jodie Taylor hit a clinical hat-trick, the first by an England player — male or female — at a Euro finals, with Ellen White, Jordan Nobbs and Toni Duggan all scoring to make it 6-0.
This was the final match of the first round of group stage fixtures and the other giants, notably favourites Germany and France, will be looking on worried.
‘It’s exciting to see how good we can become over the next, hopefully, five matches,’ manager Sampson said as he plotted a route to the final. ‘This is the stage we’re born to be at.
‘There’s another level to come. This team is really starting to believe in their talent. We could be the best team in the world and we’re confident we’ll get there but we have to keep working hard.’
Sampson sprang a surprise by starting with three strikers in Taylor, White and Fran Kirby, and England quickly set about proving their attacking intentions.
England’s energetic right- side pairing of Nobbs and the excellent Lucy Bronze were already causing problems when, 11 minutes in, Bronze cut in to thread a ball into Kirby’s path through the middle.
Scotland’s high line was sucked in by the diminutive Chelsea forward’s run when she dummied, leaving Taylor clean through and able to put a calm and clinical finish past Gemma Fay.
Kirby was proving a nuisance to the Scots defence and when she was fouled out on the left it gave Nobbs the opportunity to set up the second on 26 minutes.
The vice- captain’s superb delivery was nodded down into the path of Bronze, who twisted and turned to shoot at goal before the ball was cleared from the line. But it only fell as far as Taylor to poke in beyond the desperate Scotland defenders.
There was no let-up from there, either. Jill Scott fired at goal from 30 yards moments later, and though 201- cap keeper Fay managed to tip on to the bar, White was first on the scene to slide in the rebound. If Scotland were hoping for a drop in the tempo after half-time, they were never going to get it from Taylor.
She sealed her hat-trick, the first at a women’s Euro since 1997, eight minutes after the break with a delightful chip after White’s cushioned header had put her through again, taking the game beyond Scotland.
Nobbs, with an impressive volley, and substitute Toni Duggan’s header at a corner put a further deserved gloss on the result in the closing stages.
Scotland’s nightmare was further compounded as star striker Jane Ross headed for hospital with her shoulder iced.
But the Lionesses have announced themselves here with their biggest major-tournament win of all time.
The eyes of Europe’s big guns are all on England now.