England hero Beth Mead said scoring a hat-trick in a home Euros was something “I don’t think I even dreamt of”.
The Arsenal star was voted player of the match after her goalscoring exploits in the Lionesses’ record-breaking 8-0 demolition of Norway last night.
Afterwards the forward partied on the pitch, singing England anthem Sweet Caroline in front of the fans at Brighton’s Amex Stadium, and describing the scenes as “an unbelievable night”.
The BBC said a peak TV audience of 4.1m tuned in for Monday night’s game.
The 27-year-old also joked that her mother might try and keep the match ball she earned for scoring the hat-trick, saying: “My mum might try and steal this one from me.”
The result means England have already qualified for the quarter-finals from their Euro 2022 group with a match to spare.
And it confirmed the Lionesses’ pre-tournament billing as one of the favourites to lift the trophy.
Mead, who also set up a goal for fellow forward Lauren Hemp, has now already scored four goals in the tournament and says she is in the form of her life.
“It’s an incredible feeling,” Mead said. “An unbelievable night.”
Her performance was a pinnacle in the career of the footballer who began playing the game aged six in her home village of Hinderwell in North Yorkshire.
Describing her introduction to football she said: “I had a lot of energy as a kid and because of that my mum wanted to get rid of some of that energy — and decided to take me to a Saturday morning football session on a village field, which was run by a guy.
“He turned around and said to me and my mum, ‘It’s fine that you’re coming down to get involved but you will be the only girl here. They are quite rough so will she be okay?’
“My mum replied, ‘She’ll be fine’, because she just wanted to get rid of me I reckon. But when she came back an hour later, he basically said I was rougher than most of the boys!
“The guy ended up saying, ‘She’s quite a talented footballer so you’ll probably need to go a bit further afield to have a chance to play somewhere with other girls.’”
Mead joined the youth system at Middlesbrough, going on to play for Sunderland and then 84 times for Arsenal since joining in 2017. She has played for England more than 40 times.
She paid tribute to those who had helped her on her path, including her first coaches and her parents. “I’ve been pretty lucky that I have had a lot of support throughout my career in football.
“Obviously starting with my mum and dad from day one, with my mum working an extra job to cover the cost of petrol due to us having to drive 45 minutes twice a week at the time. They were, and still are, big people who have influenced my footballing career.”
