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2023 World Cup: How England survived scare from the high-spirited Haitians
The Lionesses of England had to depend a 29th minute penalty to get their World Cup campaign off in a winning start.
The Group D opener between England and Haiti was a dogged encounter as Haiti women stood toe-toe with the European champions.
The two teams were only separated by Georgia Stanway’s 29th minute penalty.
England needed a Stanway’s 29th minute penalty to secure victory over Haiti
Les Grenadières continued to test the Lionesses in the second period with Melchie Dumornay turning in a superb solo performance.
With her side failing to find a second goal, Mary Earps in the England goal was drawn into a crucial save late on to help secure all three points
It was an unfortunate setback for Haiti who had defended diligently and posed real threat through swift counter attacks with the superb Dumornay a constant danger.
Among their early chances, Roselord Borgella breached the England backline, fed through by Dumornay only to screw her effort wide of the post.
An equaliser beckoned just before half-time with Borgella missing a point-blank header after a clever corner routine.
There was another warning minutes into the second half with Dumornay bumping Lucy Bronze off the ball and drilling a shot on goal from the edge of the box, drawing a decent save out of Earps.
A sloppy and error-strewn start to the second period from the Lionesses invited Haitian pressure, winning one-on-one duels with ease but lacking real cutting edge in front of goal.
England soon began to tighten their grip on the contest against tiring opposition, able to call upon the likes of Rachel Daly and Lauren James from the substitutes bench as they chased the second goal to kill the game.
But missed chances continued to rack up with Earps called upon to make a superb save down the other end with eight minutes of the match remaining, denying Roseline Éloissaint moments after her introduction from the bench.