England women’s under-17s secured a fourth-place finish at the FIFA Women’s U17 World Cup in Dominican Republic, following a 3-0 defeat against USA on Sunday evening.

Natalie Henderson’s team were aiming for a bronze medal and what would’ve been a best-ever performance at a WU17 World Cup, but came up against a strong and clinical US team who took their opportunities to claim third spot at the tournament.

The Young Lionesses can return home proud of their performances at this competition though, following a successful group stage and a quarter-final shootout victory over Japan before they came up against Spain in the semi-final.

It took both teams a little time to settle into the game in Santo Domingo, but the US found their coherence quicker and launched a flurry of attempts at the England goal before they took the lead midway through the first half when Kennedy Fuller opened the scoring after 24 minutes.

England looked to work their way back into the game and responded well, with Zara Shaw, Nelly Las and Erica Parkinson all having attempts to take their team in level at the break.

The US held onto their lead into the second half and while there was no shortage of effort and commitment from England and further moments of threat from Parkinson and Omatara Junaid, as the game advanced it was USA who started to look the more likely to score the game’s second goal.

And that happened after 72 minutes, when a slick move saw the ball laid off to Ainsley McCammon on the edge of the box and she planted a low shot past Hope McSheffrey and into the bottom corner.

England looked to find a way back into the game and the lively Parkinson came closest when her low drive from inside the box whistled just wide of the far post.

And with the game going into stoppage time, England had another good chance to reduce the arrears when the ball dropped to Izzy Fisher in the box but her shot went straight at US ‘keeper Evan Osteen.

Withing seconds of that save, USA added their third when a direct ball picked out Maddie Padelski and her pace took her clear into the box before she slipped a finish past substitute ‘keeper Rebekah Dowsett.

England: 1 Hope McSheffrey (Arsenal), 2 Nelly Las (Leicester City), 3 Rachel Maltby (Aston Villa), 4 Laila Harbert (Arsenal), 5 Zara Shaw (Liverpool), 6 Cecily Wellesley-Smith (Arsenal/Oxford United), 7 Erica Parkinson (FC Valadares), 8 Omatara Junaid (Arsenal), 9 Olivia Johnson (Brighton & Hove Albion), 10 Vera Jones (Chelsea), 11 Lola Brown (Chelsea)

Substitutes: 20 Jane Oboavquduo (Manchester City) for Johnson 46, 14 Emily Cassap (Sunderland) for Junaid 63, 18 Izzy Fisher (Arsenal/Ipswich Town) for Jones 78, 13 Rebekah Dowsett (Leicester City) for McSheffrey 88, 12 Sophie Harwood (Arsenal) for Las 88

Subs not used: 15 Niamh Peacock (Arsenal), 16 Simone Sherwood (Leicester City), 17 Lauryn Thompson, 19 Eva Gray (Arsenal), 21 Eva Spencer (Liverpool)

Head coach: Natalie Henderson