England beat Iceland in Women’s World Cup qualifier

Lucy Bronze and Georgia Stanway gave England a 2-0 victory over Iceland and back-to-back wins to start their Women’s World Cup qualifying campaign.

Bronze went third in the all-time Lionesses appearance rankings with her 145th cap and she marked the occasion with England’s opener following a commanding start by the home team at the City Ground.

Sarina Wiegman’s side could have been out of sight with the dominance they showed in a one-sided first half but still only held a narrow 1-0 lead heading into the break.

It was England attack against Iceland defence for the majority of the contest, but the hosts were almost punished as Hannah Hampton stopped Sandra Jessen from equalising with their only shot of the game on the hour mark.

The Lionesses had 31 shots but lacked the clinical edge which saw them score six goals against Ukraine just four days ago.

But they finally doubled their advantage and made the result safe through Stanway’s 32nd England goal, which continued their 100 per cent start in front of a sold-out Nottingham crowd.

A rather messy exchange between goalkeeper Cecilia Runarsdottir and Glodis Viggosdottir gave England their first sighter, but Alessia Russo hit a tame effort straight into the hands of the keeper.

Lauren Hemp then found Russo with a pinpoint cross but the striker guided her attempt into the grasp of Runarsdottir from close range.

Lauren James was causing issues on the left side and she almost supplied the first goal as she whipped a delivery onto the head of Hemp who nodded onto the post.

Iceland were living dangerously and England made their quality count with the opener in the 22nd minute. James supplied a floated ball into the middle and Bronze headed home into the far corner.

England were keen for more and Iceland were simply unable to live with Bronze in the air. She was first to get her head to a corner at the back post but was denied by Runarsdottir this time.

The home side ought to have had more than one goal to show for their complete first-half dominance, this time Hemp failed to divert a cross from Russo on target before James saw a shot from range saved by the busy Runarsdottir.

Iceland could not handle the quality of James, who easily had the beating of Maria Olafsdottir Gros and saw her cross flicked by Russo into the path of Bronze who nodded wide.

The trend of relentless England attack did not stop in the second period either, and it seemed only a matter of time before they would double their advantage. James and Russo forced Runarsdottir into making more saves, albeit in easy fashion.

Hampton had nothing to do for an hour but needed to be alert to excellently tip Jessen’s header over the bar with Iceland’s first, and only, shot of the game.

England finally had their deserved second goal with 12 minutes remaining. Bronze turned creator this time and found Stanway, who arrowed a volley into the back of the net.