England vs Australia live: Result and reaction from international friendly

Australia were out for revenge following their World Cup semi-final loss to the Lionesses a couple of years ago but England cruised to a win and a first clean sheet in six.

England were looking to bounce back from their defeat to Brazil just three days ago and they did it in commanding style against the Matildas, who played the majority of the contest without Alanna Kennedy after her red card.

Sarina Wiegman’s side have been accused of starting slowly recently but they could not be faulted this time in a first half dominated purely by the two-time European champions with goals from Aggie Beever-Jones and Lucy Bronze, on her 34th birthday.

A celebratory evening was rather marred as striker Michelle Agyemang was taken off the field on a stretcher after she went down clutching her knee before Georgia Stanway rounded off victory with a late penalty.

The 19-year-old, who earned national adulation for her super-sub role in England’s Euro 2025 triumph this summer, came on in the second half of the Lionesses’ 3-0 international friendly win over the Matildas on Tuesday night.

However, she would be withdrawn from the contest just 18 minutes after her introduction after going down clutching her knee, with the Arsenal loanee appearing in excruciating pain.

After minutes of being tended to by England medics, she left the field on a stretcher to a standing ovation inside Pride Park.

Lucia Kendall was an absolute star on her Lionesses debut and while she didn’t grab a much-deserved goal, she got the acclaim of her manager.

“I think she did really well,” Wiegman said. “She has impressed me and my staff since the start of the competition with Aston Villa, and she did also really well in the training sessions. You see she almost scored that goal. She picks up really good positions, but she reads the game really well.

«She understands things and that just comes with her and she keeps things really simple but that’s not always easy. She has impressed us too, and that’s why she deserved a start today.

«She’s very young but very powerful, and she’s strong too, but she also makes spaces for other people.»

Reflecting on her first England outing, Kendall said: «It was amazing, to be honest. Felt at home, the girls were so easy to play with. You’ve got world-class players on that pitch, so it was easy to fit in.

“When I was a little girl you couldn’t even dream of that to be able to go out there to a sell-out crowd. Playing with a team that had just gone and won back-to-back Euros, it was really special.»

«Of course, we wanted to dominate the game and early in the game, a player was sent off for them and they go down to 10,” Wiegman told ITV4.

“We had a lesson the other day on how to do it against 10, so we wanted to keep up the pace of the game, create chances and harm them.

“I think we were OK on the ball but we can do better, especially in the final third, be tighter on the ball, be aligned a little more, make better decisions, then we could’ve scored a little bit more. Overall, we were solid when we didn’t have the ball, I thought.»

Wiegman also said she wishes Australia didn’t go down to 10 so early, as she wanted to use the friendly for her team to be properly tested.

Tonight was so nearly perfect for England as they scored three and kept a clean sheet to get back to winning ways.

But unfortunately, the serious injury suffered by Michelle Agyemang will hang heavy on everyone’s minds. Let’s hope it’s not as serious as it looked.

Sarina Wiegman was unable to provide any update, but said it was “horrible” to see and that it “didn’t look good”.

Beever-Jones, meanwhile, was gutted to see her teammate leave the field like that.

“It is never nice when anyone comes off a stretcher, let alone a teammate. I don’t know what she has done but will be praying she will be OK,” she said.

“I am OK,” she said. “I didn’t want to come off. It was good they were already down to 10 so it did not impact the game too much.

“It is a friendly so sometimes you have to see the bigger picture. Just got to wrap up and get some recovery.”

England foiled Australia’s revenge mission as they cruised to a 3-0 friendly win at Pride Park.

A rematch of their 2023 World Cup semi-final – one the Lionesses won in Sydney – things went south again for the Matildas when Alanna Kennedy saw red for pulling Alessia Russo down on the edge of the Australia box; a desperate attempt to prevent a goal after she had been dispossessed.

While the free-kick was originally misfired by Aggie Beever-Jones, she made no mistake at the second time of asking as she rifled England in front, with the hosts then doubling their lead on the brink of half-time through birthday girl Lucy Bronze.

Sarina Wiegman’s side continued to dominate after the break but were dealt a mammoth blow when Euro 2025 hero Michelle Agyemang was stretchered off with a serious injury.

While this put a dampener on what was otherwise a brilliant performance, England ended the game on a high as Georgia Stanway’s stoppage-time penalty put the icing on the cake.

And with that comes the full-time whistle! England are back to winning ways.

Stanway steps up… and sends the keeper the wrong way! England have their third!