Positive showings from Kearns and Robinson despite 2-1 England loss | OneFootball

Missy Bo Kearns and Katie Robinson are two current Aston Villa Women players who are in the England U-23 side. Thursday evening, they lost to their Spanish counterparts, 2-1. While the Young Lionesses would have undoubtedly preferred a win, there were a number of great takeaways from the match.

Against one of the better European teams, England showed an increased ability in the second half of play and was very much unfortunate not to have grabbed a draw at the Murcia Stadium. After an unlucky deflection and goal that looked to be offside (no VAR for this friendly), Emma Coates' side looked on par with the strong opposition.

It may have been in a defeat, but it's telling that Kearns was named the Player of the Match. Her presence in the attacking midfielder role was felt throughout the fixture. She not only did well in winning possession back but then also created a number of chances.

Between her and Robinson's passes across the face of goal, England was unlucky to have not scored three or four goals. It is more important, however, that their play and approach, for the most part, worked against a quality side.

Robinson also found a lot of success and was asked to switch at one point from the right-hand side to the left. Her efforts, particularly in the press, allowed the Young Lionesses to make Spain uncomfortable compared to the opening 45 minutes and eventually produced the goal.

Aston Villa Women connection on goal

The score resulted from build-up play that was looking to find Kearns in an advanced position on the right. Freshly subbed on, Georgia Mullett secured herself the ball on the edge of the area and picked out a cross that found Isobel Goodwin for the header.

It proved to not be quite enough to grab a draw, but the Aston Villa Women's involvement was highlighted during the goal. Mullett is an AVWFC player who is currently on loan at Southampton. Coates will now prepare for Belgium on Sunday and likely look to lean on the Villa players once more.