Taylor's treble joy after breaking England duck

Saturday 07 Mar 2015
Jodie Taylor scored her first England goals on Friday

Jodie Taylor breathed a huge sigh of relief after scoring her first goals for England.

The 28-year-old bagged a hat-trick as the Three Lions saw off Australia 3-0 in their second match at the Cyprus Cup.

Taylor was making just her fifth appearance in an England shirt, having only made her debut in August, and, after having a goal against USA wrongly ruled out for offside she revealed her delight at finally getting off the mark.

England Women 3-0 Australia

The Cyprus Cup
Friday 6 March
Nicosia, Cyprus

She said: "I’ve been chasing my first goal. I was really happy to get my first one and my first hat-trick for England as well.

"When that first goal went in I felt a lot of relief. As a forward you always want to get your first goal, be that for a new club or your national team. 

"Once you get that you can kind of relax and that’s when the others come – and that’s what happened with me.

"They’re all special but to score a hat-trick for England is a great achievement and I’m pretty happy."

Taylor broke the deadlock in the eighth minute with a sublime angled drive before curling the ball beyond Brianna Davey for her second.

England Women's head coach Mark Sampson and hat-trick hero Jodie Taylor react after 3-0 win against Australia

 


And she capitalised on some indecision in the Aussie backline to complete the treble late on.

But she refused to take all the credit for the win and applauded the whole team’s display.

She added: "I think we had a few really good individual performances but, more importantly, as a team we were solid.

"We played well against Finland, we played well against Australia and we just want to keep on progressing throughout the Cyprus Cup."

The win over Australia secured Mark Sampson’s side a place in a third straight Cyprus Cup final, although they must complete their Group B campaign against Holland on Monday.

England have won the annual friendly tournament twice before, in 2009 and 2013, and were runners-up to France last season.

By Glenn Lavery in Nicosia, Cyprus