England’s Aggie Beever-Jones, Lucy Bronze and Georgia Stanway scored in a 3-0 win over 10-player Australia in a friendly at Derby’s Pride Park on Tuesday as the European champions recovered from their 2-1 defeat to Brazil on Saturday.
The friendly was overshadowed by what appeared to be a serious knee injury to Michelle Agyemang, who was taken off on a stretcher.
In the first meeting between the two teams since England defeated Australia in the 2023 World Cup semi-finals, Beever-Jones struck in the 20th minute when her free-kick hit the wall, and Bronze passed the ball back to her for a powerful shot into the top corner.
Bronze doubled their lead in the 40th minute when they collected a pass from Ella Toone and struck from close to the penalty spot. Fans serenaded Bronze, who turned 34 on Tuesday, with “Happy Birthday to You!”
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England were awarded a penalty after Katrina Gorry’s death on Missy Bo Kearns. Stanway coolly fired home from the spot for a decisive victory for England.
Australia were reduced to 10 players in the 19th minute when Alanna Kennedy was shown a red card for bringing down Alessia Russo.
The 19-year-old Agyemang, who played a key role in England’s European Championship victory, fell to the ground with an off-ball injury late in the match, with England manager Sarina Wiegman calling the prognosis «not very positive».
“Of course it was a terrible moment, it doesn’t look good,” said Wiegman, who had not yet received a medical report.
“We don’t know yet, but I’m not very positive about what I’ve seen,” she added.
Published on October 29, 2025
