Grace Clinton scores on England debut as Lionesses ease past Austria
Grace Clinton (Joe Giddens’PA)
England debutant Grace Clinton made a magical introduction with a goal in the Lionesses’ 7-2 victory over Austria in their opening game of 2024.
Alessia Russo struck twice and added an assist at Spain’s Estadio Nuevo Mirador, taking advantage of a mistake by her Arsenal team-mate Manuela Zinsberger to open the scoring with an early goal before Clinton opened her England account with a header.
Virginia Kirchberger got Austria back into the game, but Beth Mead restored the Lionesses’ two-goal advantage before the break with Russo completing her brace and substitute Jess Carter flicking in a fifth shortly after her introduction.
We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity.
Kirchberger nodded Austria’s second with two minutes remaining but there was still time for Mead to pounce on Lauren James’ rebound to bag a brace of her own before Rachel Daly completed the rout in five minutes of stoppage time.
Manchester City defender Alex Greenwood wore the captain’s armband in the absence of Euro 2022-winning captain Leah Williamson and World Cup skipper Millie Bright, both sidelined with injury.
Chelsea forward Aggie-Beever Jones earned a late maiden call-up to the senior side, taking the place of Chloe Kelly, who was being assessed for a minor injury, while Fran Kirby was initially named to the starting XI but pulled up in the warm-up and was replaced by Ella Toone.
Zinsberger spilled Mead’s effort that allowed fellow Gunner Russo to tuck the rebound past the Austria shot-stopper inside three minutes.
Alessia Russo scored twice for England (Nick
Read on belfasttelegraph.co.uk
