Debutants impress in easy win for the Lionesses

It was a mixture of the old and new for England in their first match for nearly a year as they beat Northern Ireland 6-0 at St. George's Park.

Midfielder Jill Scott won her 150th cap whilst fellow veteran Ellen White made it 39 goals in 93 appearances for the Lionesses with a hat-trick.

Experienced campaigners Lucy Bronze and Rachel Daly also scored but there was also a goal for debutant Ella Toone from the penalty spot.

As well as Toone, Sandy MacIver, Ebony Salmon and Lotte Wubben-Moy all made their debuts as interim head coach Hege Riise looked to refresh the squad ahead of the Tokyo Olympics as well as next summer's home European Championship.

 "Obviously [I'm pleased with] six goals, four players getting their first cap and that we pushed for 90 minutes and wanted more goals. We tried to find the pockets in between, run at them and I think we showed character," Riise told BBC Sport.

"We probably could've scored more goals but the performance and energy that we put into the game was good."

Northern Ireland still hope to qualify for the Euros and will feature in the play-offs in April with a stronger squad available. Manager Kenny Shiels said: "There were some positives and some negatives.

"England are stronger and quicker than us and that was a big obstacle for us to overcome. We lost the toss and they had the wind in their favour. That took away our opportunity to get some confidence. They were all over us and we couldn't get up the pitch.

"When we had the wind in the second half, we have so many part-time players that we used up their energy. It was unfortunate but the result doesn't matter. We found out about each other and the understanding how how we want to play."