England secured a 3-1 victory over Greece in Crete in the first leg of their World Cup play-off semi-final, but manager Sarina Wiegman believes her side still have improvements to make before the return match.
Georgia Stanway put the Lionesses ahead in the first half, with Maya Le Tissier and Alessia Russo extending the lead to three goals after the break. Greece pulled one back through Kallisti Brouksair, setting up a tense second leg in Leicester on Tuesday.
Wiegman calls for improvement
Wiegman was pleased with the result but felt England should have won by a larger margin. Speaking to ITV, she said: "I think we started well, they started aggressive too but we stayed calm, that's what I'm most pleased with but a couple of things to work on too."
She added: "At moments in the game we were tight, ball wasn't moving quick enough. Especially when we got the ball in the pockets, high up the pitch, we need to be tighter, more aligned. With these opportunities we had, we could've scored a lot more goals, sometimes we were offside, so there are some things we need to work on, and I'm not happy with the goal we conceded."
Le Tissier scores first England goal
Manchester United defender Le Tissier scored her first international goal with a powerful strike that proved too strong for Greece goalkeeper Fafailia Petaloti. She was denied earlier in the match by a Petaloti save but finally got her reward.
Wiegman praised the 24-year-old's performance, saying: "There were more positives but she's really improving her game with club, she's more comfortable, covered a lot of space today. She needed to defend but at the same time played in attack really high up the pitch. She got there at the far post and it was a great shot."
Le Tissier said: "I didn't really know it went in to be honest. I thought the keeper saved it but I just smacked it. Really glad, feels good to get the first goal so happy. I'm a defender and I thought I'd just be stopping goals but always good to get out there."
She added: "We wanted to come here and get the win, gutted to concede a goal but in a good position going into the Leicester game on Tuesday."
