England Women made a solid start to their Euro 2022 warm-up games by cruising past Belgium.
The Lionesses ran out 3-0 winners on Thursday night, with all the goals coming in the final 30 minutes, but they could have won by more.
Sarina Wiegman’s side dominated the first-half and missed countless chances as Belgium somehow held firm.
The visitors’ resistance eventually crumbled in the second-half, however, as Chloe Kelly, Rachel Daly and an own-goal from Nicky Evrard secured the win for the Lionesses.
England dominated proceedings from the off and they should really have been ahead by half-time. Both Beth Mead and Lauren Hemp were getting joy out wide, with England cutting Belgium open on more than one occasion.
The Lionesses finished the half with over 60 per cent of the possession and 14 shots on goal, but they couldn’t find a way through.
Their best chance came five minutes before the end of the half, when Leah Williamson chipped the keeper but Belgian defenders scrambled to hack the ball off the line.
Wiegman made a triple substitution at the break as the manager tried to get things going, while also giving players valuable minutes ahead of the Euros starting next month.
The onslaught continued, with Kiera Walsh stinging the hands of the Belgium goalkeeper with a shot from outside the box.
When the goal came it was in a fortunate manner, with England getting the luck all their hard work deserved.
Kelly, who was one of the half-time substitutes, cut in from the right and her shot took a deflection off Belgium defender Amber Tysiak to deceive the goalkeeper and give Wiegman’s side the lead after 62 minutes.
If there was a slice of luck about that goal then there certainly wasn’t any involved in England’s second, which came moments later. This time a corner came into the box and Daly volleyed the ball into the top corner after it fell to her.
England remained in complete control from there and got their third with seven minutes to go from another corner as Williamson’s shot smashed the crossbar and rebounded off Belgium goalkeeper Evrard’s head and into the net.
