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Lionesses are warming up for Euros
UNDER the floodlights with Sweet Caroline belting out over the PA system, you could feel the excitement building.
With less than three weeks until England begin their Euros campaign in a home tournament, it was also exactly what Sarina Wiegman wanted from her team.
It was a much-needed win to start the momentum building to that first game against Austria at Old Trafford on July 6 – but also a time for the talking to stop and the football to take over.
It took goals from two substitutes, Chloe Kelly and Rachel Daly, to put Wiegman’s team in charge at Molineux.
Until then, you began to wonder if there was some sort of curse in Wolverhampton as Gareth Southgate’s men failed to find the net in two games here.
But two days on from the men’s Hungary humiliation, the Lionesses look in much better shape, even if Wiegman will need some fine tuning against Holland next week at Elland Road before their final warm-up friendly in Switzerland.
England captain Leah Williamson also got in on the act as her shot was deflected in off unlucky Belgium keeper Nicky Evrard which seemed particularly timely.
There has been so much talk about the omission of Steph Houghton, England’s long-standing former captain, from the squad that it feels almost like a changing of the guard. Arsenal ace Williamson was outstanding throughout with her energy and drive while Lauren Hemp also impressed and England have strength in depth from the bench.
They will definitely need it in a tournament that they are far from being favourites to win but with home advantage on their side, who knows what could happen.
England will need to be better in front of goal, though, because despite scoring 72 goals in Wiegman’s first 11 games in charge they were wasteful in the first half, managing 14 shots to two in a one-sided affair but struggling to break the deadlock. Hemp went close, Ellen White was also denied while Williamson saw her clever chip cleared off the line.
Finally the goal came after 62 minutes and England needed a big slice of luck to go ahead.
Kelly cut in from the right edge of the box, flashed a left-foot shot towards goal but it took a huge deflection off Belgium substitute Charlotte Tison and completely wrong-footed Evrard.
The next came four minutes later when Belgium failed to clear their lines, the ball pinged around the box and then Daly found the top corner.
With seven minutes to go, Williamson’s shot hit the bar and then cannoned in off the back of Evrard.