Phil Neville says Scotland taught England a lesson about Women’s World Cup 2019

Phil Neville said his players had received a lesson in victory after opening their Women’s World Cup campaign with a win.

The England manager said: “I think at 2-0 we thought it was going to be easy in the second half. It’s a lesson that every game in this World Cup is going to be difficult.”

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He added: “We set standards and we cannot drop below the standards otherwise we get second-half performances like that. We’ve got to be relentless now. We want to be here for 37 days.”

Nerves, expectation, pressure

Neville was, though, pleased with the way his team had approached the game. “The first game is always the hardest: nerves, expectation, pressure, and it is Scotland. We played with no fear and there should be no fear for this group.

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“The disappointment is in the second half. We need to keep the ball better, particularly when the legs get heavy. But after the build up and expectation it is good to get the first game out of the way.”

Scotland’s Shelley Kerr said: “The first half we were disappointed but England played well.”