Millie Bright reacts to England win over China

Millie Bright insists England were never "concerned" by narrow 1-0 victories over Haiti and Denmark, prior to demolishing China 6-1 to match the Lionesses’ biggest ever World Cup win.

England were lacklustre in each of their first two games, having previously struggled in a number of matches in April and July leading into the tournament.

But the message from the camp after both the Haiti and Denmark games was the same: the most important thing is the result and the points. Now, with a breakout performance against China under their belt - drawing similarities to the 8-0 thrashing of Norway at Euro 2022 last summer - there are clear signs of improvement as the Lionesses start to progress through to the knockout rounds

"There is no bigger emotion than leading the girls out no matter what the score is. Win, lose or draw, I'm always proud to lead them out. We're really growing into the tournament now," Bright said.

"We weren't too concerned about the first two games. We're really happy with the performances and happy tonight with the shift the girls put in," she added.

"I'm really happy for the girls to not only get the chances they did, but bury them as well. 

"We got a lot of criticism in the first two games but we were not concerned at all. I would happily take a clean sheet and a 1-0 win because when you have to grow into tournaments you get your momentum. Things start to click and you start to get your rhythm."

Having booked their place in the last 16 with maximum points from the three group games, England will now face Nigeria back at Brisbane’s Lang Park, where they previously played Haiti, on Monday.

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