Sarah Gregorius netted early in the second period to hand
a resilient New Zealand side victory over England at Brighton’s Amex Stadium in
what was both teams’ final warm up game before the World Cup gets underway on
June 7th.
This was my first ever visit to the Amex Stadium on the outskirts
of Brighton, and I must say I was very impressed with the facility, and I was
there to see how England would fare in their final warm up game before what
they hope is a successful World Cup campaign in France, which begins this weekend.
They had beaten Denmark 2-0 in a friendly a few days prior
to this, and now they faced New Zealand who were ranked 19th in the
world, so this would be a tough test but one that the Lionesses were expected
to win.
But in front of a brilliant crowd of 20,076 they fell to a
surprise defeat despite having 65% of the play and also a bulk of chances to
score, with the key moment coming two minutes into the second period when
Gregorius poked home a rebound after England keeper Carly Telford had spilled a
Rosie White effort.
Defeat for England looked impossible early on after they
created plenty of openings with Jodie Taylor and Nikita Paris unable to hit the
target, and right-back Lucy Bronze was key to the hosts dominance down the
right in the first half, often linking up with Paris to cause the visitors issues.
New Zealand had been on the back foot for the majority of
the opening half, but they gave England a warning just before the break when Betsy
Hassett saw an effort tipped over by Telford, however the hosts failed to heed
that warning early in the second half when the New Zealander’s struck.
The Lionesses saw Jill Scott nod wide at the far post before
skipper Steph Houghton headed another effort onto the roof of the net as
England looked for a late leveller, but it wasn’t to be and they had to taste
defeat on a disappointing day result wise at least.
England’s World Cup campaign begins against old foes and
rivals Scotland on June 9th, whilst New Zealand begin their campaign
against Netherlands on June 11th, and if England do top Group D in
the tournament, they could face New Zealand in a last 16 encounter on June 23rd. If that does happen could England gain revenge
perhaps? We shall see….
