England Women withstood a second-half South Africa fightback as goals from Leah Williamson and Grace Clinton secured an unconvincing 2-1 international friendly win in Coventry.
Sarina Wiegman insisted she was not concerned by criticism after the Lionesses were 3-0 down inside half an hour against Euro 2022 final opponents Germany at Wembley last Friday but rallied before eventually losing 4-3.
Wiegman was given another chance to experiment in Tuesday’s first meeting with South Africa since a 1-0 win in February 2010 in the Cyprus Cup tournament.
The England boss made eight changes but Williamson kept her place to captain the side on her 50th appearance for the Lionesses – and the centre-back took her opening goal well having collected a pass from Jessica Naz (12).
Grace Clinton headed in Manchester United team-mate Maya Le Tissier’s cross (23) – but South Africa did not crumble, and halved the deficit when Thembi Kgatlana produced a composed finish 10 minutes after the restart.
Kgatlana twice came close to completing the comeback as Lucy Bronze executed a vital last-ditch block before Mary Earps’ heroics ensured England limped back to winning ways in the Midlands.
Leah Williamson beams after breaking the deadlock
Wiegman thought her side were far from their best after the half-time break.
She said: “At some moments we were sloppy. Those moments were not nice for us so we were sloppy and they made it 2-1. Also we had players in different positions and that’s not easy to adapt them and get the right connections.
“We have to get through that and take the sloppiness out and keep playing forward and getting connected with players in different positions, so I am asking a lot of the players.
“What you saw today was different players to Friday and also other players in other positions which we wanted to see. This is the moment to do that. Some things I was happy and other moments of course we can improve.
“We all know we don’t want to make those mistakes – they punished us and of course we want to take those moments out and if we want to be at our best we need to take them out.”
How England returned to winning ways
Grace Clinton heads in England’s second in Coventry
The hosts took their foot off the gas in the second period. Their defence has been questioned in recent months and they were unable to keep a clean sheet against a side 50th in the FIFA world rankings as Kgatlana halved the deficit.
England returned to winning ways but it was not the most comfortable of victories as Kgatlana saw a goal ruled out for offside and was later denied on several occasions as England held on for victory.
Unlike Friday’s defeat at Wembley, the Lionesses started on the front foot and got their rewards for a sharp opening in the 12th minute courtesy of skipper Williamson.
Naz was first to react from a corner and teed up the Arsenal defender, who was able to get the ball out of her feet and stroke into the bottom corner.
Leah Williamson strokes England ahead
The visitors were almost on level terms straight away – Esme Morgan was caught napping deep in her own half and Kgatlana’s initial effort was blocked into the path of Hildah Magaia, who was unable to poke home as Clinton got back from midfield to apply pressure.
England doubled their advantage in the 23rd minute as Le Tissier perfectly picked out Manchester United team-mate Clinton who scored with a powerful downward header.
Wiegman’s side did not have it all their own way though – Kgatlana got in behind England’s defence and Williamson was called upon to deal with the danger.
England were pegged back in the second half
England were punished for a lacklustre start to the second period. Williamson’s loose pass allowed Kgatlana to run through on goal and she finished beyond Earps in cool fashion to make it 2-1.
England were inches away from re-establishing their two-goal cushion as Kelly shimmied past a couple of defenders and let fly from distance but saw her effort rattle off the crossbar.
Another Williamson mistake allowed the menacing Kgatlana to run free again and she passed across to Magaia whose shot was blocked.
Williamson and Alex Greenwood (right) after the friendly
Against all the odds, South Africa thought they were on level terms – once again, Kgatlana got in behind the back line and struck beyond Earps, only for the assistant referee’s offside flag to correctly cut the celebrations short.
England simply could not handle Kgatlana in the second period and substitute Bronze had to block one effort behind before Earps was called into action a couple of minutes later as England held on.
Wiegman: We still have more questions
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Anton Toloui delivers the Verdict following England’s 2-1 win against South Africa and questions whether Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses are ready for the Euros.
Wiegman’s side will play two more friendlies in the next international break against the United States and Switzerland as they continue preparations for next summer’s European Championships.
The England head coach admits she still has questions to answer following a loss and a victory from this international camp.
Wiegman added: “We still have more questions, this is what we said before we started this camp.
“We won’t need to have that now, we have two more games and are trying to get as much information as possible.
“Of course to see more players who are knocking on the door, some have to be a little bit more patient than others but we need these games to try out these things to be in a better place later on.
“You want to have opponents in front of you who give you different challenges. These challenges give us the experiences we can learn from so that’s why we are happy with these high-level games and different opponents from different continents.”
What’s next?
England will next link up in the latter stages of November for friendlies against Emma Hayes’ USWNT on November 30 and Switzerland on December 3.