England’s Lionesses put in a dominant performance to beat Russia 6-0 tonight.
From the off Russia struggled to cope with the Lionesses pace and movement, and when they were reduced to ten after a second bookable offence for Ksenia Tsybutovich it was game over for the visitors.
Russia’s early tactic was to sit back but the Lionesses were able to slice through the defence regularly with Fran Kirby orchestrating England’s attack. Kirby also had a hand in setting up the first three goals [scored by Nikita Parris, Jodie Taylor and Jordan Nobbs] as well as being awarded a rather harsh penalty which was saved by Russian keeper Tatyana Shcherbak. (It was from this hand-ball that Tsybutovich was awarded a second yellow and given her marching orders, a harsh decision given the player had turned her back on Kirby.)
In a display of team unity and support for their beleaguered coach, after opening the scoring, Parris ran straight to the bench to embrace team mates and Mark Sampson.
By half time Lucy Bronze had added to the tally and the Lionesses headed in for the break on a very comfortable 4-0.
In the second half England continued to play with freedom and enthusiasm – and substitutions complemented the play with Karen Carney, Ellen White and Isobel Christiansen (who came on for Parris, Taylor and Kirby) slipping seamlessly into the fluent performance of this side.
The Lionesses added two more goals, both scored by Toni Duggan but it could easily have been more. The team definitely shook off the disappointment of their Euros campaign and put on a fine display for the delighted crowd at Tranmere.
The Lionesses will play Bosnia & Herzegovina on Friday 24th November and then Kazakhstan on 28th November (both home fixtures) as their second and third qualifiers and one can only hope that they continue to play with this style.
