England have retained the Arnold Clark Cup for another year after easing to a 6-1 victory over Belgium at Ashton Gate in Bristol this evening.
The Lionesses went into their final tournament fixture knowing that a draw would be enough but Sarina Wiegman’s side turned on the style as they recorded a sizeable victory.
England started brightly and Georgia Stanway sent an early effort narrowly wide before Lauren James went closer still with a shot from close range.
The Lionesses broke the deadlock after 12 minutes when James fed the ball to the lively Chloe Kelly and she was able to scramble her effort home.
Millie Bright then went close after getting on the end of a corner kick before captain Leah Williamson headed home a second England goal four minutes before the end of the first half.
The Lionesses increased their lead early in the second half when Belgium keeper Nicky Evrard made a real hash of an Ella Toone shot and Kelly bundled in from the rebound.
Alessia Russo then twice went close before the crossbar denied Kelly the hat-trick. Evrard made up for her earlier error as she denied Toone with a good save before Julie Biesmans directed Kelly’s cross into her own net as England went 4-0 up.
A truly chaotic final few minutes produced three goals. First, Lucy Bronze headed home goal number five from a corner kick before Elena Dhont pulled a goal back for Belgium with an absolute rocket of a shot from long range. Williamson then rifled the ball home at the other end as England ended the game 6-1 winners and retained the Arnold Clark Cup.
The Lionesses will regroup in April when they take on Brazil and Australia in further matches on home soil.