Report: England WU19s 5-1 Austria

England women’s under-19s displayed a five-star performance at St George’s Park against Austria as they made it two wins from two in their EURO qualifying second round.

And it was a result which, coupled with Ukraine's defeat to Belgium, confirmed England's place at this year's U19 EURO finals which are set to be held in Poland in June.

Following on from their 6-0 win over Belgium earlier in the week, the Young Lionesses found the net three times within the first 45 minutes as Ava Baker continued her red-hot form in front of goal before Mari Ward and Vivienne Lia found the back of the net to extend the advantage.

And despite Austria reducing the deficit through Sarah Gutmann, England found the net a further two times through Michelle Agyemang and Jessie Gale.

England started quickly from the first whistle and opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Baker latched onto the end of an inviting cross from Lola Brown, which set the tone for the afternoon.

Moments later, after a scramble in the box, Ward’s effort found the bottom corner and extended the Young Lionesses’ advantage.

Despite England looking in clear control, Austria did pull a goal back when Gutmann’s header beat Katie Cox.

Brown’s strike from inside the area looked destined for the top corner, but some heroic defending from Guttman at the other end denied the effort.

The Young Lionesses continued their search for a third goal and were inches away when Agyemang latched onto the end of a cross from Baker, but her effort failed to test Lara Ritter.

Some individual brilliance from Lia added to England’s lead, as Alexia Potter’s pass played her into space on the left-hand flank, before she cut inside and dispatched a powerful effort into the top corner.

After the restart, Cox palmed away an effort from Almendina Sisic as Austria tried their luck advancing forward and a way back into the contest.

But Lauren Smith’s side showed their class when they added a fourth, when Baker’s pass across the box made it simple for Agyemang to finish past Ritter on her return to the starting lineup after suspension.

Substitute Erica Parkinson had a golden chance to add a fifth for England, when she skipped past Ritter but failed to find the finishing touch.

However, Smith’s side eventually found their fifth goal a minute later, after the ball was flicked over the top of the Austria defence and Gale tapped the ball into an unguarded net to round off a spiriting performance.

With one more game to play, against Ukraine on Tuesday afternoon (2pm), all eyes will now be on other results in the group before the team will know if they've qualified for this June's EURO Finals in Poland

England: 1 Katie Cox (Chelsea), 2 Nelly Las (Leicester City), 3 Mari Ward (Bristol City), 4 Laila Herbert (Southampton), 5 Lucy Newell (Blackburn Rovers), 6 Katie Reid (Arsenal), 7 Ava Baker (Birmingham City), 8 Alexia Potter (Crystal Palace), 9 Michelle Agyemang (Brighton & Hove Albion, on loan from Arsenal), 10 Lola Brown (Chelsea), 11 Vivienne Lia (Southampton).

Substitutions: 17 Rachel Maltby (Aston Villa) for Las 64, 12 Erica Parkinson (Valadares Gaia) for Brown 64, 19 Jessie Gale for Baker 64, 15 Lauryn Thompson (Indy Eleven) for Lia 80, 16 Lily Murphy (Manchester City) for Agyemang 80.

Substitutions not used: 13 Eve Annets (Manchester City), 14 Princess Ademiluyi (West Ham),18 Zara Shaw (Liverpool), 20 Cecily Wellesley-Smith (Oxford United).

Goals: Baker 4’, Ward 9’, Lia 42’, Agyemang 53’, Gale 78’

Head coach: Lauren Smith