Lionesses fans fume as ITV stream cuts out during Ireland match | OneFootball

England fans voiced their frustration as ITV was hit by technical issues during the first half of their historic European Championship qualifier at the Republic of Ireland.

The Lionesses were in Dublin to face Ireland in a competitive game for the first time since 1987, in what was a considered a must-win fixture for Sarina Wiegman’s side after Friday’s 1-1 draw against Sweden.

The European champions made the perfect start in front of over 30,0000 fans at the Aviva Stadium, as an early strike from Lauren James and a penalty from Alex Greenwood gave England the lead.

But ITV viewers complained as their picture was cut out during the opening half.

The technical issues seemed to hit the ITV 1 broadcast, with viewers reporting that the ITV X online stream was unaffected.

One fan posted on Twitter/X: “Has anyone else’s ITV just crashed during the Lionesses game??”

Another replied: “Anyone else’s ITV gone down? Trying to watch the Lionesses but I’m not getting anything”.

Other fans reported a “black screen” instead of the match pictures.

The Lionesses are the defending European champions and were looking to perform strongly during qualifying before the tournament begins in Switzerland next summer.

They started their defence in disappointing fashion as a well drilled and focused Sweden held them to a 1-1 draw at Wembley last week.

With France, who defeated Ireland in their opener, also in the ‘group of death’ England know that they cannot afford to drop points against their close neighbours if they hope to qualify without too much trouble.

That will not be an easy task though, Marie-Antoinette Katoto’s sixth minute goal was the only thing separating France and Ireland last time out and manager Eileen Gleeson will believe her team can achieve a shock result.

Such is the importance of the game that England captain Leah Williamson makes her first start in over a year.

The 27-year-old has not featured for the Lionesses since suffering an ACL injury in April 2023, which forced her to miss last summer’s World Cup.