England edge to nervy victory over Haiti at Women's World Cup

England needed a retaken penalty from Georgia Stanway to secure a nervy 1-0 victory over debutantes Haiti at the Women's World Cup on Saturday.

The reigning European champions produced an unconvincing performance in their opening Group G match at Brisbane Stadium in Australia.

Despite dominating possession and having 11 shots on target to Haiti's two, England were reliant on Mary Earps to secure all three points when the Three Lions goalkeeper blocked a shot from Haitian substitute Roseline Eloissaint eight minutes from time.

The only goal of the game came when England were awarded a penalty after Batcheba Loui's handball in the box in the 29th minute.

Up stepped Stanway only to see her first effort saved by Kerly Theus, only for VAR to intervene after the Haiti goalkeeper clearly encroached off her mark before the kick was taken. Stanway kept her composure to finish low into the bottom corner at the second attempt.

After the match, Stanway admitted the Haitian team, 49 places below England in the Fifa rankings, had proven themselves tough opposition.

1 - Having failed to score each of their last three penalties at the #FIFAWWC, Georgia Stanway is the first player for the @Lionesses to score from the spot since Nikita Parris against Scotland in June 2019. Relief. pic.twitter.com/0BZdwfiy7c

“They challenged us, very dangerous on the counter-attack. That’s something we’ll work on in training this week,” said the Bayern Munich attacker.

“We knew they were going to be dangerous. Mary came up with a big save and everybody played their part. It’s saves like that that keep us in this tournament. The most important thing is that we’ve got three points and it’s the first game. Off to a good start.

“The first game is to settle the