England's Grace Clinton keen to keep on pushing

Written by:

Nicholas Veevers

The Lionesses midfielder speaks after scoring the winner against Switzerland in Sheffield

MATCH REPORT: ENGLAND 1-0 SWITZERLAND

Grace Clinton was again on the mark to prove her worth in an England shirt, after her first-half goal was enough to secure victory over Switzerland.

In what was the Lionesses’ final match of 2024, Clinton was the quickest to react in the box to smash home what turned to be the winner against next year's EURO hosts at Bramall Lane in Sheffield.

And as England continue to prepare for next year’s UEFA Nations League and UEFA Women’s EURO Finals, the Manchester United ace says she just wants to keep on performing to secure her place in the squad.

“Everyone wants to play for their country, it is what dreams are made of,” said Clinton after the game.

“So to do it at the tournament is what I want to do. It’s always nice to get a goal, whether that’s for England or club, but especially for England.

“In international football, it is like that, very competitive, but we managed to keep them out and get the win.

“And we had the chances, G [Georgia Stanway] hit the post at the end there, we had the chances but that is positive. We have people like Lessi [Alessia Russo] and Aggie [Beever-Jones] and Jess [Park] so we can finish them off.”

Grace Clinton in action at Bramall Lane against Switzerland

It was a youthful looking line up for the Lionesses, as Sarina Wiegman made ten changes to the team which played against USA at Wembley.

There were full debuts for Laura Blindkilde Brown and Ruby Mace and also first starts for Millie Turner and Aggie Beever-Jones.

And Clinton was happy to see some of her former WU23s teammates being given an opportunity to stake their claim.

“It was amazing, especially with the crowd, and playing with some new faces who I played with when I was younger so that was nice.

“I think the future is bright, they have done so well tonight and I am so happy for them, but they have been around and done it in the BWSL many times, so it is nice to see them with the England shirt on.

“It is so important for us to get minutes and for us to get exposure, it is very competitive every single game, so to get exposure and hopefully we’ll get many more.”