England vs Northern Ireland LIVE: Euro 2022 result and final score as Alessia Russo adds to Beth Mead goal
Alessia Russo made an instant impact from the bench as her quickfire double added to first-half goals from Fran Kirby and Beth Mead
England made it three wins out of three at Euro 2022 as the tournament hosts defeated Northern Ireland 5-0 at St Mary’s Stadium.
Having already qualified for the quarter-finals as group winners, England named an unchanged team for the third match in a row but Northern Ireland defended well in the opening stages to frustrate the Lionesses.
Northern Ireland were already unable to progress to the knockout stages but it took until Fran Kirby’s excellent strike on 40 minutes for England to take the lead, and it was swiftly followed by Beth Mead’s fifth goal of the tournament.
England made three changes at half time but it was Alessia Russo who made the biggest impact, scoring a header and then adding a quick second after a sublime turn and finish.
With England manager Sarina Wiegman unavailable for the match after testing positive for Covid-19, the Lionesses made it five late on after Northern Ireland defender Kelsie Burrows turned Mead’s cross into her own net.
England will now look forward to a quarter-final against either Spain or Denmark next Wednesday. Follow live reaction from St Mary’s, below:
Russo’s instant impact helps England to five-star win over Northern Ireland
England wanted to round off this group by maintaining their rhythm and will enter the knockout stages fully in the groove. With Sarina Wiegman self-isolating after testing positive for Covid-19 and assistant Arjan Veurink taking charge in her place, the only changes were in the dugout and on the scoreboard. The same starting line-up that gave Norway one hell of a beating scored just the five goals this time rather than eight, but bent a resilient Northern Ireland to their will all the same.
Report from Mark Critchley at St Mary’s
Alessia Russo’s instant impact helps England to five-star win over Northern Ireland
England 5-0 Northern Ireland: Russo came off the bench to add to Fran Kirby and Beth Mead’s first-half goals as the Lionesses made it three wins out of three at Euro 2022
FULL TIME! England 5-0 Northern Ireland
And it’s party time at St Mary’s as England’s players celebrate their win in front of their fans.
Meanwhile, there’s been a huge tournament shock as Austria have defeated Norway 1-0 to join the Lionesses in the last eight!
FULL TIME! England 5-0 Northern Ireland
Alessia Russo is “buzzing” to be through to the knockout stages with a win. “Happy to be in the right place at the right time,” she says.
“Obviously I want to play every game for England but I have to be patient. We broke them down and got the two goals to lead at half time.”
FULL TIME! England 5-0 Northern Ireland
England set another record as they march into the quarter-finals. Just the 14 goals in the group stages and none conceded.
Well done to Northern Ireland - who go over to the corner to thank their fans.
England 5-0 Northern Ireland
89 mins: And that should have been the hat-trick! Mead again the creator but Russo fires over from eight yards.
England 5-0 Northern Ireland
88 mins: Chance! Nice move from England. Daly drives forward and finds Kirby who can turn and play it wide to Carter. Her cross finds Russo but the striker’s header goes over the bar.
England 5-0 Northern Ireland
83 mins: Chance! Kelly makes a great run down the right and her cross is punched away by Burns. It drops to Mead, who brings it down and looks for the top corner.
It bends just a touch over the bar.
GOAL! England 5-0 Northern Ireland (Burrows OG)
Five for England - but a nightmare for Northern Ireland defender Kelsie Burrows who turns Mead’s cross into her own net.
England 4-0 Northern Ireland
Tonight’s attendance is 30,785 at St Mary’s.
Another sell-out for England.
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