Christine Sinclair hits 180 and condemns England Women to defeat

The individual auditions for World Cup places were not always overly convincing and collectively it was a thoroughly underwhelming rehearsal but maybe Phil Neville’s players needed a jolt like this.

Women’s football is, in Neville’s words, on the brink of “boom time” in England and it is perhaps not too bad a thing that the escalating optimism surrounding the national team received something of a slow puncture as Christine Sinclair’s deserved second-half winner for Canada went at least some way to finally healing a long-festering wound. The Lionesses certainly cannot say they have not been reminded of the full scale of the challenge that faces them at France 2019.