England

England scores late to grab 3-2 win over Czechs

Published Nov. 12, 2019 5:41 p.m. ET

CESKE BUDEJOVICE, Czech Republic (AP) — Leah Williamson scored her first international goal in the 86th minute, giving England a much-needed 3-2 win over the Czech Republic in a friendly on Tuesday.

Lionesses head coach Phil Neville had called for a response from his players after the 2-1 defeat to Germany in front of a record-breaking crowd at Wembley, which was a fifth loss from seven matches.

The Czech Republic, though, made the most of another slow start from England, which was playing its final match of 2019. Tereza Szewieczkova fired the home side into the lead after 15 minutes in a snowy Ceske Budejovice.

England then struck twice in the space of three minutes through Beth England and Arsenal's Beth Mead to turn the match around before Slavia Prague forward Szewieczkova equalized just before the half-hour with a 25-yard effort.

The conditions continued to deteriorate, and England capitalized with just four minutes left when a low shot from defender Williamson was deflected past the Czech goalkeeper.

"I've got to say I think we should be beating the Czech Republic by more than three goals to two," Neville said. "We dominated the second half, were careless a little bit in possession in terms of the final pass, the final run, the final cross — but I suppose it is the last game of the year, we wanted to finish on some kind of win and we did that."

England was without captain Steph Houghton, Alex Greenwood, Jodie Taylor and Ellen White as Neville looked to both manage player fitness and utilize his squad.

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