Aggie Beever-Jones shines as Young England Lionesses…

Aggie Beever-Jones shines as Young England Lionesses topple Belgium in scintillating performance

England's Young Lionesses were in scintillating form as they stormed to a 4-1 victory over Belgium in front of 1,305 fans at Prenton Park.

It's been a busy few weeks for England's senior side, who are in pole position to retain the Arnold Clark Cup after dispatching both Korea Republic and Italy as they ramp up their preparations for this summer's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The Under-23s, meanwhile, went into their meeting with the Belgian Red Flames looking to build on their own impressive recent form, with the Young Lionesses having played out a goalless draw with Spain last time out.

Katie Robinson - who caught the eye for England against Italy on Sunday afternoon - scored the only goal of the game the last time these two sides met back in 2021. While the Brighton winger is now plying her trade for the senior Lionesses, Under-23s manager Mo Marley was still able to call on a wealth of talent on Monday evening, with Arsenal loanee Anna Patten captaining the side and Everton's Aggie Beever-Jones (who is on loan at Walton Hall Park from Chelsea) getting the nod up front.

And it was the latter who helped get England off the mark; the 19-year-old driving forwards from the left and feeding the ball into the path of Liverpool's Missy Bo Kearns who made no mistake with a cool finish into the bottom corner. Belgium quickly restored parity through Anderlecht striker Maire Minnaert, who outfoxed the Lionesses' defence with a smart first touch before slotting the ball past Southampton's Kayla Rendell.

Laura Blindkilde Brown almost put England back in front just minutes later but her well-struck effort from distance was matched by a fine save from Lisa Lichtfus. The Belgium keeper was called upon again to turn Kearns' goalbound effort behind before Charlton's Angela Addison spurned a golden chance to put the hosts ahead after a neat lay-off from the Liverpool midfielder.

Holding midfielder Ruby Mace nearly capitalised on a spell of England possession just before the break but she dragged her low effort narrowly wide of the post. The Lionesses' first real chance of the second half came on 54 minutes; Beever-Jones danced past two Belgium players and threaded a sublime ball through to Addison who made it 2-1 with a lovely dinked finish.

Anna Patten netted England's third - the defender arriving at the back post to knock Poppy Pattinson's cross past Lichtfus and give Mo Marley's side some breathing room. Substitute Lisa Petry nearly pulled one back for Belgium but her strike was smartly beaten away by Rendell.

Kearns clipped the crossbar with a lovely curling effort inside the box before a late header from Charlton's Kiera Skeels capped off a superb England display.

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