As the former England youth international Flo Allen recalls the near-impossible task of trying to keep pace with a young Lauren Hemp in training, the look in her eyes momentarily resembles half shudder, half admiration. It’s a sentiment right-backs up and down the land have felt, but Allen, who grew up playing alongside her in Norwich’s centre of excellence then at Bristol City in the Women’s Super League, knows the feeling better than anyone.
“Yes, I had the very nice privilege of marking her throughout my whole childhood,” a chuckling Allen says. “The pace she had at under-10s was frightening, let alone later, and her left foot, at that age – wow.”
