Stanway stunner fires England into semis after extra time win over Spain

The party was almost over but then Ella Toone turned up and the whole place went wild again, Brighton becoming the night of their lives. A goal down and on the edge of elimination with six minutes left, England had been made to suffer by a superb Spain side, but a late volleyed equaliser from the Manchester United player carried them into extra time where Georgia Stanway smashed in a shot straight out of a comic to carry them into the semi-final.

It wasn’t until after ten that they started singing It’s Coming Home, so hard had it been. So good, too. But now at last they could believe it really might be, which isn’t to say they wouldn’t suffer more. Oh, they would. This was a wonderful football match, wild at times and wonderful at others, and it had been graced by both teams, but in the end it was England who emerged exhausted but victorious. And what a way to do so, the winner of one of those moments that you could see unfold, Stanway striding forward willed on by everyone.

Still it wasn’t over, the hugely impressive Aitana Bonmatí striking an extra time shot wide as they now desperately sought a way back, just as England had before them, and Sandra Paños up inside the England area as the clock reached 120. Eventually, though, it would be, drums beating, lights shining as England’s subs sprinted onto the pitch and into the arms of their teammates, music cranked up.

They had only been playing five seconds when the first footballer fell, Ellen White taking Mapi León’s clearance full in the face, and that seemed to set up the opening minutes. By the time the quarter-hour came round, as many players had been on the turf as minutes had been played, which wasn’t just chance. This was frantic stuff, heels snapped at, lungs