Williams drives England forward

Stepping in to replace the captain of England is a daunting task at the best of times.

But when you are only 18 years old and the match also happens to be your first senior start at international level, not to mention a vital World Cup qualifier, you'd be forgiven if you were a little overawed.

Not so Charlton Athletic's Fara Williams, who declared: ``I don't really get nervous - I just take each game as it comes.''

From the moment she knew she would replace team-mate Tara Proctor, who was forced to withdraw from the squad to face Portugal because of a knee injury, the youngster has shown a maturity way beyond her years.

England's opening goal, in front of a record 8,821 crowd at Portsmouth's Fratton Park, was proof of that.

When striker Kelly Smith was fouled on the far left-hand side of the pitch it was Williams who calmly stepped up to take the free-kick.

And what a free-kick. Only six yards up from the goal line and at the tightest of angles, the youngster unleashed an unstoppable shot past Luisa, who was left rooted to the spot in the Portuguese goal.

Williams explained: ``I saw the keeper was in the middle of her goal and thought I'll go for the strike.

``When it went in I didn't know what to do. I think I jumped about 50 foot in the air.''

The midfielder was just one of the reasons why England performed so much better against the visitors here than they had done in Portugal in November.

The other was the returning Smith. She terrorised the Portuguese defence from the first whistle, giving her marker Carla Monterio an especially torrid time, as she broke free time and time again to aim shot after shot at goal.

And after numerous close efforts, the Philadelphia Charge striker finally got her name on the scoresheet just before the half-way point in the second period as she beat three defenders in the box and rifled home.

Smith added her second and England's third on the hour as the home side simply overwhelmed their opponents.

But the American-based player was modest when asked if it had been her finest day in an England shirt.

``I don't think so,'' she replied. ``I'm just happy we've come away with the three points.

``I think we played amazingly well. We needed to win, because if we had lost that would have been our World Cup campaign down the tubes. I'm ecstatic we've won.''

The victory, England's first in a competitive match since defeating the Ukraine to book their place in Euro 2001 15 months ago, has moved them up to second in their World Cup qualifying group.

With European champions Germany expected to take top spot, England would almost certainly guarantee themselves second place - and a place in the play-offs for the finals in China next year - if they can defeat Holland (currently bottom of the group) away next month.

Should England continue in this sort of form, you wouldn't bet against them.

Emma Stoney