As England secured a 2-1 victory over Italy in their second match at the 2023 Arnold Clark Cup, young Brighton & Hove Albion forward Katie Robinson made her first senior start for the Lionesses.
The 20-year-old got the assist for Rachel Daly’s first goal of the game and as the contest played out, the pair developed a strong connection up front.
It was the first time that Robinson and Daly had played a game of football together but the youngster was pleased with how they combined.
“We’ve never played with each other, so it’s new,” Robinson said when speaking to the media after the match. “I think I needed to relax a bit when I was on the ball and get some more early crosses in and when I did that, she scored.
“We ground out the win in the end. We were dominant and had lots of chances, so overall, we’re happy with the result. We’ve now recorded two wins, so it puts us in good stead (to win the tournament).”
Robinson was a bright spark for the Lionesses, especially in the first half. It’s youngsters like her that keep performing and make it difficult for head coach Sarina Wiegman to select her starting XIs.
She said “This is only my second camp, so I’m just trying to learn as much as possible and integrate myself. Training is of such high quality and it makes me raise my standards and hopefully, I can start to bring something to the team when I’m on the pitch.
“We always want to have fluidity and we spoke about switching positions. Obviously, when Lauren (Hemp) goes up to take a corner, we swap sides and it worked really well.”
England complete their participation at the 2023 Arnold Clark Cup with a fixture against Belgium in Bristol on Wednesday evening.