More than 60 former Lionesses visited St George's Park last week to be awarded their individual legacy caps by the current squad. For Pat Mitchell-Firth, it was 50 years on from her debut against Scotland where she scored a historic hat-trick, becoming the first female player to do so for England.
Ms Mitchell-Firth, now 66, was just 16 years of age when she represented the Lionesses for the first time in June 1973. After discovering a love for the game following the 1966 World Cup, she played for a local team in the village of Swillington in West Yorkshire from the age of nine until she was 12, she then represented a pub team called Fleece Fillies in Wakefield before she was eventually invited for England trials aged 15.
Despite her tender age, Mitchell-Firth was picked to face Scotland at Manor Park in Nuneaton for the women's first ever home match on English soil. She burst onto the scene in spectacular fashion as she rattled home a hat-trick - something she'd dreamt about only the night before.
