Mark Sampson says England’s 3-1 win over Finland went some way to showing they can cope with the pressure that comes with producing results in a World Cup year.
The Three Lions began their Cyprus Cup campaign with a deserved victory as goals from Lianne Sanderson, Eniola Aluko and Jess Clarke put Finland to the sword.
This result ended a run of two straight defeats, by Germany and USA, and Sampson believes that is testament to his side’s character as they continue their preparations for Canada 2015.
England 3-1 Finland
The Cyprus Cup
Wednesday 4 March
Larnaca, Cyprus
He said: “We didn’t want to lose three on the bounce. We didn’t want to lose one on the bounce, let alone three. It was important we reacted in a positive manner.
“I never thought for a second we were in any danger of losing the game.
“The pressure was on the players a little bit to deliver and they certainly did.”
It was England’s 11th win in Sampson’s 15-game reign and they might have been ahead before Sanderson’s 21st-minute header as Aluko and Demi Stokes both came close.
But once the Arsenal striker broke the deadlock England were in control for the majority of the game, and scored goals two and three in the second half.
Gemma Bonner was sent off after conceding a last-minute penalty, but Sampson was satisfied with the opening-day win.
He added: “We created lots of opportunities and probably could have done better with a few of them. We maybe offered them a couple of chances which I thought we could have defended better.
“But in terms of in between the boxes, our build-up play and our organisation defensively I thought we were excellent, and at this stage of our development I’m really pleased with that.
“We are showing that we are learning, we are developing, we created lots of opportunities, we dominated possession and we had good variety to our play.
“Overall a very pleasing performance and a good result.”
England’s second group match is against Australia on Friday. The Matildas defeated Holland 1-0 in their opening match.
