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Page last updated at 14:17 GMT, Saturday, 5 March 2011

Scotland coach Anna Signeul hails win over England

Scotland striker Kim Little
Little scored Scotland's opening goal against England in Cyprus

Scotland coach Anna Signeul says beating England for the first time in 34 years proves she has a good side.

The Scots followed up an opening defeat by Canada in the Cyprus Cup with a 2-0 win over the World Cup-bound English.

"Some said after the first game that Canada didn't play well, but maybe they underestimated us," Signeul told the Scottish Football Association website.

"You have to be a good side to get a result like that against England. I'm absolutely delighted with the result."

Defending champions Canada had sneaked a win on Wednesday, when Emily Zurrer powered home a 72nd-minute header as Jo Love became the fourth Scotland international to gain 100 caps.

It was a happier 50th cap celebration for Kim Little on Friday as goals from the striker and Arsenal team-mate Jennifer Beattie ended a run of 17 defeats against the English.

"We played well against Canada in the first game, but the result didn't go our way," said Signeul.

They had a strong side out there, with big players like Jill Scott and Eniola Aluka

Scotland coach Anna Signeul

"We built on that performance and put on a really impressive display.

"We had some good chances against Canada early on and we didn't take them. So I was pleased that we got goals early in both halves.

"In terms of attack, we had a game plan and stuck to it.

"I thought Jennifer and Kim were brilliant up top. They found each other so well, and Jennifer is such a good target player for us.

"Hayley Lauder kept the ball very well in midfield, the whole midfield played well in fact, and in defence we were impressive again."

Signeul stressed that it was a near full-strength England side that the Scots had overcome.

"They had a strong side out there, with big players like Jill Scott and Eniola Aluka, who scored a lot of goals in the Euros," he added.

"There was no Kelly Smith, but we didn't have our top scorer, Julie Fleeting, either.

"We got this result because of the way we played against a top side."

The Scots face Italy, who lost to England in their opener, in their final Group 1 game of the 12-team tournament split into three sections of four teams.



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see also
England 0-2 Scotland
04 Mar 11 |  Women
Scotland women seek England scalp
03 Mar 11 |  Women
Smith scores on 100th women's cap
02 Mar 11 |  Women
England women draw at Cyprus Cup
02 Mar 10 |  Women


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