Women’s World Cup - Norway could not live with Lionesses, says Steph Houghton

Steph Houghton: Reports of her injury were not a case of mind games, says victorious captain.

Phil Neville’s side reached next Tuesday’s semi-final in Lyon with an impressive 3-0 win at Le Havre’s Stade Oceane.

In the build-up to the contest, Norway defender Maria Thorisdottir had been quoted as saying: “I know that the English players don’t like to run that much but they are going to have to be prepared to do a few metres against us.”

Reflecting on a match that the BBC have announced set a new UK television viewing record for women’s football, being watched by a peak audience of 7.6m, Houghton said: “Our intensity in terms of our defending, when we were countering – I think they couldn’t live with us. It was just the heart that everybody showed.

“I think there’s been a lot spoken about us and I think from the Norwegians themselves about how we don’t want to run and we don’t like running.

“But, to be honest, our performance showed what we’re all about. We want to win big football matches. We gave respect to Norway, but we wanted to win and we’ve done that.”

Jill Scott’s finish put England ahead in the third minute, Ellen White doubled the lead in the 40th and Lucy Bronze made it 3-0 with a stunning strike just before the hour mark.

They had the chance to add a fourth with seven minutes of normal time remaining via a penalty awarded following a Thorisdottir foul on Houghton, but Nikita Parris saw her effort from 12 yards saved by Ingrid Hjelmseth.

Houghton was caught on the ankle by a poor tackle by Alexandra Takounda late on in Sunday’s 3-0 last-16 win over Cameroon, and was described as a “major doubt” for the Norway game but stressed it had not been a case of mind games.

“I did everything I could and I’m standing here as a winning captain, leading my team into a semi-final. No (there were no pain- killers involved), just treatment. I’m happy, I’m fit, I’m healthy and I’m ready to go again.”

The 31-year-old added: “We’ve got to take confidence in our performance. We got a clean sheet, we’ve beaten a top Norwegian team, and it could have been five or six really.”

Reaching the semis in France follows England having done so at the 2015 World Cup – their first time getting to that stage of the competition – and Euro 2017 under Neville’s predecessor Mark Sampson. On both occasions they were defeated.

Play-maker Fran Kirby said: “It’s really exciting for us. We want to go one better. We’ve been to two semi-finals and we don’t want to feel that hurt again. We have to do everything to recover.”

Former England captain David Beckham, Neville’s old team-mate, and his daughter Harper were among the crowd of 21,111 at the stadium on Thursday.

A few hours before kick-off, the players spent some time with them and ex-England striker Ian Wright, and were shown a video message from five-time Olympic rowing medallist Katherine Grainger.

Kirby said: “Obviously Becks came with his little girl and it was really special to meet her because she’s a big England fan. She came in with her England shirt on and it was really special for all of us.

“When there’s big games, Phil brings out the big guns.”